


Vinculum et angelus lapsus

by rosirinoa



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: AU, F/M, Gen, Kuroshitsuji II | Black Butler II, Mistery, OC, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-04-05 22:10:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 57,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4196832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosirinoa/pseuds/rosirinoa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Susanna knew about kidnappings, criminal organizations and demons only by books and movies but she never thought she would experience it first hand, much less by the hand of a sexy demon who would offer her a contract she could hardly refuse, especially after finding out that her family's dark past is chasing her and her life is un danger. [SebastianxOC] [WilliamxOC]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pactum

1.- Pactum  
The dark night sky and its new moon announced that it was past midnight in a warehouse outside the city, which a group of criminals such as drug dealers, kidnapers and mercenaries used as hideout. They were all part of a bigger organization and they were drinking while waiting for their bosses’ call, informing them what to do with the girl who was kidnaped that same afternoon.  
She was a young girl, around the mid-twenties. Her name was Susanna and she had been brutally beaten. Blood stains were all around her hair and her dark eyes were filled with tears. She wondered how she got there, to this dark room that reeked of blood and narcotics.   
Susanna was tied up with security bands on her foot and hands that left red marks on her tanned skin and began to think it was the end, but the thing that worried her the most was to leave her dad behind. He was surely dead worried about her in that very moment; she didn´t come back home after all. And then she remembered the series of strange event that happened during the past weeks.  
She had always been somehow paranoid without a good reason; she thought she had a sixth sense that put her on alert after detecting an anomaly around her, but it got worse on the past few months, especially with those strange and frequent dreams that made her wake up in the middle of the night, very scared, or those shadows she though she saw on her room when her eyes opened. It didn’t happen every night, so she didn’t give it importance, but when she went out, there were things and shadows that passed on the corner of her eyes and some other occasions there was someone looking at her.  
It was all very strange, but she thought that is was all part of her imagination, besides, she had many other things to worry about besides daydreaming about something going after her.  
That’s what she thought until one day, a couple hours before meeting some of her friends and go to the movies with them, she decided to stop by and have a cup of coffee. It was one of those modern coffee-bars near downtown and she loved to spend afternoons reading and having a beer in there.  
She sat in one of the free tables and took a book of her favorite tales from her purse, when a male voice spoke to her.  
“Are you able to sleep at night after reading Edgar Allan Poe, miss?” it was a smooth and polite voice. Susanna turned immediately to see who this person speaking to her was. She found something odd in the question, especially because lately she had been having many nightmares.   
“No. Actually I enjoy this…” she mad a small pause before continuing, a necessary silence after seeing the man who was in front of her, dressed all in black “…kind of reading” he was tall and thin, but somehow well-built and his jet black hair had a rather fashion style, like one of those rock stars with longer bangs in the front and shorter hair on the back of the head.  
“I see… do you mind if I join you?” he waited before sitting down just to make sure she nodded, but he knew it was practically impossible for her to say no to his request because of his demonic charm.  
“Go ahead…” Susanna put the book down. She wouldn’t be able to keep reading it after the mysterious man’s appearance and he kept looking at her while he took a seat. His eyes had an intense and uncommon color, like deep blood red which contrasted with his pale skin and there was definitely something odd about him. Almost immediately a flirty waitress came by to give them the menu.  
“Thank you… I would like a glass of water and…” he turned to see Susanna a beer for the lady… what kind of beer would you like?” the girl was a little surprised and thought that all that was one of those weird tactics to flirt with a girl. There was something in the man that picked her curiosity and her inner voice told her to play along with him.  
“Corona, please” the waitress went away “so, who are you?”  
“Oh, I do apologize for my lack of manners. My name is… “ he had a mischievous smile, as if he was remembering something “Sebastian Michaelis.”  
“So you are not from this country” she tried to avoid his gaze and focused on his clothes: black pants that looked tailor made and that combined with military boots. He was also wearing a fashion leather jacket that smelled as fine as its quality and the zipper was on the left side and just a little down below his neck, showing his white skin behind the dark shirt.  
“I’m afraid not. Actually…” he made a pause as if he tried to simplify the explanation “let’s say that I came from England. As a matter of fact, it’s been a long time since I have been looking for you, miss” and then, Susanna started to feel a weird vibe coming from Sebastian; something unexplainable and that brought shivers to her spine. He wasn’t a common man, but before she could ask something else, the waitress came back with the drinks “thank you” he kindly smiled at the waitress and approached a little more to the girl who was sitting in front of him “and as I was explaining… I finally found you”  
“I think you’ve got the wrong person”  
“No. I assure you. I know you are Susanna Serafer, the only descendant from such family and the first woman in about a hundred years” Sebastian said with a serious tone, but she started to laugh.  
“Are you serious?” she kept laughing “you’re mistaking me with someone else… or is this a joke? Perhaps an attempt of kidnapping?”   
“No, Milady. You are just the one I’m looking for and I do have something to prove it” he took something out from inside his jacket. It was a folder with many papers and it looked like one of those files from the detective movies “if you read this, you will know that I’m not lying. But I’m not here today hoping you would believe me, I’m sure that you will be convinced in due time. It’s alright, take it. I have a copy of it and I’ve memorized all the information in there as well. Besides, you will have to go and meet your friends in a little while and I don’t think you will be able to read the whole thing by then”  
“What are you saying?” she was really alarmed this time “how do you know that…? Have you been following me?”  
“Please relax, I’m not here to harm you. I’m just following your grandfather’s last orders”  
“Yeah, sure…” she adopted a cynical attitude as she drank her beer “my grandfather who, by all means, is looking for me and…”  
“Even if you don’t believe it, it’s true… and actually, Mister Richard is already dead and I’m the one in charge of looking for you” he got closer to the girl and whispered “have you ever wondered what happened with your biological family?”  
“But how do you?...” the girl was very shocked this time and she felt as if her blood froze; she was adopted and only her family knew about it. No one else had information or details about it, or how it happened because it was supposed to be a secret and the only person who could have revealed something to her was already dead, so there was no way that somebody else could know about it.  
“Everything is here” Sebastian pointed at the folder “I would recommend you to read it and… I will contact you in a couple days” he leaned back on his seat and smiled with satisfaction, as if he found something funny in her angst.  
“I…” she took the folder and put it in her purse, feeling his gaze on her. She started to feel uneasy and before she could say something else her cellphone rang.  
“My, my…. It looks like you would have to leave sooner than I expected. Your friends are looking for you” he said before she answered the phone and indeed, it was one of her friends, asking her if she could arrive earlier “It’s alright, I will pay and… I will see you later” he kindly smiled and made a friendly gesture with his head as the girl rushed to leave the place. That meeting had been very strange and uncomfortable for her.  
It had been like one of those things that to movie characters, not to a normal person, which made everything scarier, not to mention that strange guy. Hanging out with her friend helped to forget about the man dressed in black, but she had a hunch as soon as she arrived to her house; it was a feeling that told her to be prepared, and so she began to read those papers.  
It was a long report about a certain family and that, according to that man, was hers. Everything was too surreal to be true and all that information was rather shocking so she stopped and put it away, somewhere on the back of the closet where no one could find it and she could forget after a couple days, although the mysterious man was still inside her head.  
A couple days later, one night of waning moon when Susanna walked back home, she faced a reminder of that strange encounter. She came from visiting her best friend and decided to not use the car and walk back home, because it wasn’t so far and she enjoyed night walks so she put on her headphones and pushed play on her favorite song.  
There weren’t any sounds around the Street. It was past midnight and some cars passing by could be heard in the distance. She was alone and the small moon shone in the dark sky right above her. It was cold and the air brought unknown and enjoyable sensations, as if it carried expectancy along with it.  
“You shouldn’t walk alone at this time…”  
“Jesus Christ!” she almost shouted after the big scare that made her jump a little. It was Sebastian who suddenly appeared next to her. He was all dressed in black, but this time he was wearing an elegant suit with a small pattern on the dark necktie, the jacket had a goth pattern as well. His skin looked even paler than last time she saw him and Susanna even though that he was a vampire. There was something supernatural in him.  
“No, I’m afraid you couldn’t be more mistaken…” he said with a seductive voice.  
“Pretty funny…. Why are you following me?... is disturbing” the put her cellphone back on her pocket and held on tight to her keys. Perhaps she could hurt him if he came too close, although her intuition told her that it wouldn’t be enough to stop him.  
“My sincerest apologies. I didn’t mean to scare you, but you shouldn’t wander around at night. There’ people looking for you as well and their intentions are not good at all”  
“And yours are?” she raised an eyebrow.  
“Not really, but I’m your best choice” there was malice in his smile and they kept walking towards the girl’s house “did you read the documents?”  
“I didn’t finish” she said coldly, remembering all the information, dates, named descriptions and stories that narrated the tragic lived of that family; something way too overwhelming for her.  
“That is because you are not sure of being part of that family yet… but I do have the prove on my hands“ he pulled out a paper from his jacket “I’ve got a DNA test”  
“What?! How did… oh, the beer…”  
“That’s right. After you left, I took the liberty of using that bottle to get your DNA and confirm that it was truly you, even though I already knew it. It’s quite an annoying habit of your family to not reckon the most obvious things…” he frowned.  
“What did you say?”  
“Oh, excuse my boldness….”  
“Whatever. About that document, I don’t have a reason to care about a family that never cared about me. Besides, you are not a normal person” she looked at him with suspicion “what are you, really?” he laughed with some malice, as if he was waiting for the question all along.  
“You are very observant, miss. I suppose it’s that… family legacy that is starting to wake up, or is that mere guesswork?”  
“Just ask my question”  
“My, my…” he laughed again “I will, but not because you ask… right now you don’t have any power on me” there was a peculiar tone on his voice “I will answer because I would like to see your reaction” and then he turned to look at her with bright eyes, those demon eyes that were pink, menacing and felines.   
After seeing that, the girl fought with the urge of running away. That guy wasn’t human and she didn’t even want to imagine what he was. She just asked herself what kind of family was that? This man had something to do with all of them, and most likely it wasn’t good at all.   
“Forget it, I don’t want to know. The less I get involved, the better. Leave me alone. I’m not interested on being part of a dark family, much less if they hang out with strange creatures like you”  
“I’m sure you will regret it later”  
“Are you treating me?... you don’t have power over me either…” immediately she regretted saying that; Sebastian’s aura changed and his demon eyes showed up again as he smiled.  
“Actually you are an interesting girl… very well, I will leave you alone… but I suggest that you finish reading those papers. Once you look into darkness, it’s impossible that it doesn’t follow you. And be careful, there are some individuals looking for you”  
“Goodbye” Susanna tried to open the door as fast as she could and the man walked to the other side of the street. And then he said.  
“If you ever need it, call me. I’ll be there and perhaps I will offer you one hell of a deal”  
With that said, Sebastian disappeared and left the girl with many doubts and tempted to finish the report, not to mention how frightened she was after seeing those eyes; that look that stared at her every time she closed her eyes. It was like one of her darkest dream came true.  
She had always wondered who her real parents were, what kind of biological family she had and if she would look like them… and now the answer was inside that folder filled with papers and photographs in her hands. It was a terrifying idea but she managed to gather enough courage to keep reading and finish with it that same night.  
Nothing in there was normal, as if the Serafer family belonged to a Stehpen King’s novel. There were many dramatic events and situations related with a secret society; the group had basically been hunting and murdering members of that family since at least 2 generations back. Every single one of them had been murdered, although there was no registry about Susanna’s parents.  
It was a wealthy family, senior partner on the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca whose headquarters were in England, but the company information was not inside the report.  
Apparently the suspicious man, Sebastian Michaelis had received first hand all that information. Nevertheless, it was impossible because there were data, photographs and specific dates since the beginning of the twentieth century, and the man seemed on his early thirties. Everything became even more confusing and surreal. Besides, Susanna started to feel a strange sensation inside her chest, like a huge angst invading her and her senses betraying her as well. Secret societies, persecutions and a guy like Sebastian couldn’t mean anything good. Suddenly all those conspiracy theories that made all people paranoid made more sense than ever and she hoped with all her strength that nothing was true, that this dark history hadn’t found nor reached her.   
She couldn’t sleep well that night. Every time she managed to fell asleep nightmares appeared. Bad dreams that looked more real than ever. Strange symbols, fire all around, shadows staring at her and people she didn´t know judging her. Aside of that, she thought she spoke with someone multiple times during those dreams but she was sure there was no one else inside the room. The next day she woke up as if she had slept 10 hours. She wasn’t tired at all; perhaps it was time to pay the neurologist a visit…  
The next two days were rather normal and boring. She attended to German lessons, had lunch with his dad and during the afternoon she went to the grocery store, but when she came back home, just when she was getting out of the car and take out the house keys she felt an arm surrounding her from the waist while another hand covered her mouth with duck-tape. She struggled to get free and she was able to punch one of them and stab him with a pen she carried, but it was all in vain; there were three against her and in the end they knocked her down and fell unconscious.   
When Susanna finally woke up, she was tied to a chair and her whole body hurt so badly. She was in a dark room with a small light bulb that didn’t work properly. It wasn’t long before one of the men approached her and punch her in the face.  
“The boss said we shouldn’t kill you… but he didn’t say anything about punching you or breaking a couple bones. This is going to leave a scar…” said a tall and corpulent man while pointing at a bloody bandage on his arm.  
“I think we might have some fun with her” another male voice came from behind Susanna, who was very scared and confused, but she couldn’t talk because of the duck-tape.  
“I don’t understand a word you’re saying…” the first man mocked “let me help you” and with a single movement he took off the tape, making her lower lip bleed “that’s better”  
“My family doesn’t have any money, if that’s what you want!”  
“What do you mean with they don’t have money?” a female voice was heard from the other room “that’s bullshit… but that’s not important right now. We were paid to kidnap you. Apparently your family stole something from our boss and he wants it back”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about… my family…”  
“Your family is not what you think it is… we are talking about your biological family, of course. We don’t care about those other idiots.  
“Don’t call them that…” her voice was breaking.  
“Oh, look! Now she wants to order us around… I have the control here! understood?” one of the men approached her and punched on the ribs.  
“Just be careful, the boss wants her alive. I don’t know why, he’s going to kill her anyways” Susanna was immediately alarmed after hearing that and sweat started to fall from her forehead. Everything seemed lost “I’m sorry that your family died protecting you… it’s not a big deal, but I will never understand that motherly love” the woman approached and looked at her “do you know anything about what happened?”  
“Do you?” the memories from the report came to Susanna’s mind. Everything was detailed… everything except for her parent’s information. That part was vague and it didn’t fit with the version her adoptive family told her. The angst invaded her and her whole body ached.  
“You’re asking me if I do?” the woman started to laugh “I killed them!” Susanna’s eyes were wide opened after hearing that. She never met her real parents; actually the concept she had about them wasn’t good at all, but it was frightening to hear that from the killer herself “like we said before, you have something that belongs to our boss… and we’ve were looking for you, but your parent managed to hide you before we got them”  
“Hide me?” she was more confused than ever and something else kept her a little dizzy and her thoughts were a little blurry. She had surely been drugged.   
“You don’t understand anything, evidently…” the woman mocked her “just so you know, I’ll tell you what happened. We had been tracking you father down for a long time and when we finally found him in this country, very far from home, we found out that he had a wife and even a daughter, but when we had them, in that same place where you are now…. The baby was missing. Do you remember, John?”  
“As if it was yesterday” his face was now closer to Susanna “your mom screamed of pleasure when I was with her”  
“Disgusting!” was the only thing she could say after hearing such atrocity.  
“Don’t worry, you and me are going to have a great time too” John smiled, showing his yellow tooth and then the other woman stood between them.  
“Yes, yes, you can have all the fun you want, but before that I want her to suffer with the story” she made a pause and then looked directly into Susanna’s eyes “we tortured them for two days but they never said where you were hiding”  
“Your father was the first one to die” said the other man, who had remained silent on the last minutes “he died after a really hard beat we gave him. It was such a pity, we could have sold some of his organs on the black market…”  
“That’s right, and your mother lasted only half a day more than him. They never said what happened to you. At least we could get rid of them, but it took us nearly 25 years to find you. It was a very long time and in a couple more hours you will disappear from this world. Oh, and don’t worry about your adoptive father, we also have some plans for him… meanwhile, let’s celebrate our victory over the Serafer family” the woman looked at her partners “we’ll leave you alone for a while, so you can think about your pathetic existence… but when we are back, we’ll take you to the boss”  
Everyone left the room and Susanna didn’t even know what to think. In a matter of days her life completely changed. It seemed like everything she considered as true and safe was slowly vanishing, leaving her alone. She never thought she might have a past that could chase after her, much less to put her on a situation like this, not to mention her parents, who she despised for a long time. Suddenly she felt great anger about everything that was happening. The pain in her body was piercing every time she took a breath, she got nausea, dizziness but the adrenaline caused by her anger kept her awake and alert.  
Until then, her life hadn’t been easy, but she couldn’t complain; it was a common life, with happiness, sadness, traumas and special moments, like everyone else. Sometimes she felt as if she had gone through more than other people, but it was nothing compared to her actual reality.  
That anger was inside her veins, it was a sensation she had never felt before; rage and impotence could barely describe what she felt and at the same time she felt guilty for having the wrong idea about her true family, as well as being responsible for whatever happened to her dad. This time she was in a big problem, and couldn’t do anything about it…  
A couple minutes later, John entered the room where Susanna was. He wore a perverse smile and it was clear he didn’t have any good intentions. He had a small box with him and she didn’t even wanted to imagine what would come net. She wished to be dead. It could have been an easy and fast way out, without any immediate remorse, but suddenly something inside of her woke up. Something very similar to her anger and despair.  
“While you’re still alive, the boss doesn’t have any inconveniences on me having some fun with you” his face was very close to hers, and she was furious. She would have taken his eyes out if she had the chance.  
“It’s pathetic that this is the only way you could be with a girl…” she felt another punch on her face.  
“Shut up!... in a few minutes you will beg me for…”  
“This isn’t over!.... I swear that, if I die I will come back from hell itself just to make your life more miserable”  
“You talk too much, bitch!” he silenced her with duck-tape and took out a knife from his pocket ”I like the color of blood, don’t you?” he cut her clothes, leaving little strings of blood on the skin where the knife passed “that’s how I like it… and not, just the final touch” he took the box and took out a syringe with a pink liquid inside “Deus est mortuum et nos occidimus eum…” the words sounded on Susanna’s head, piercing her ears, as despair started to choke her.  
What were those words? A prayer? An oath? But quickly her attention turned to the syringe. It was surely some kind of drug to make things “easier” for John. And as soon as she felt the needle touching her skin, that rage and anger intensified on her stomach. Her hands were sweaty and tears went out from her eyes. There was a huge energy that went from her gut to her arms; a genuine hate that could destroy anything, and then everything changed around her.  
The walls, the roof and even John looked different, as if she was wearing some kind of glasses. All details could be seen now and there were even some shadows around her, dark silhouettes that were looking at her, but none of them moved to help her.  
The girl was scared, but the anger inside was stronger; feeling so vulnerable in that circumstances filled her eyes with tears.  
“I swear, for the most valuable thing I have, that you will pay. For me and for my family. I will destroy you even if I have to sell my soul to the devil” she thought and tasted the blood on her mouth from all those punches in the face.  
The drug started to work and she felt even more alert than before; maybe the shadows were part of the hallucination, but she felt some kind of around and anxiety inside of her, something that wasn´t normal. Her heart accelerated and she was about to pass out, and then a voice was heard inside her head.  
“I can make these people disappear, if you want to; I can make your wishes of revenge come true”  
“It’s more than revenge… is hate… repudiation and despise for all this… for this stupid reality where I have to live. I never asked for this, and I won’t leave without hurting them” the voice laughed after she answered.  
“I like that…”   
“I know it’s not good… but… what is your price?” she coldly asked, as if she was someone else, but deep inside, she knew very well it was her inner self. Fear was left behind and it was tim to act.  
“Only your entire existence, miss”   
“If I have to pay that price, I won’t stop with these people… it’s too much” he laughed again “their deaths won’t mean anything if there is something else behind them. I want everything ripped apart… I want them to regret hunting me for so long. Me and my family”  
“It is possible that, what you are looking for goes beyond your imagination, are you willing to fulfill it?”   
“I cannot accept being outraged or raped, nor being assassinated for reasons I don’t even understand. I must do something, I can’t let these idiots decide my fate”  
“I can be under your entire disposition. Be your butler; your right hand so you can reach what you want” his voice was like velvet on Susanna’s mind “and when I fulfil my side of the deal..”  
“You will take my soul, right?”  
“Your mortality and immortality in exchange of the services of a demon, what do you say?”  
“I accept… but… make them suffer for what they have done to me and my family. I want them to feel pain and the punishment from hell itself right now”  
“As you wish” there was some joy on his voice “but before that, we need to seal this contract with a mark… the more concupiscent the place, the more powerful will be the bond”  
“On the jugular…”  
Susanna felt something warmer on her neck. Perhaps it was the demon’s hand, but after an instant, the warm feeling started to burn like no other thing. The pain lasted for a couple seconds that felt eternal.  
After that, she was able to see colors again and she was back in the warehouse, still tied up but the guy that was on top of her was gone. Black shadow threw him to the other side of the room and the next thing she saw was a stream of blood staining the wall. Some punches were heard as well as painful laments; moans and groans filled with angst and then dismal begs that would cause nightmare on anyone who heard them.   
It might have been the pain or the effect of the drug on her, but her back arched on the table she was laying on, and she felt an enormous heat on her core; a desire she had never experienced before and that was driving her crazy with every second, and as the sensation intensified, she rejoiced with the cries of those people who tried to hurt her.   
A couple minutes or perhaps hours passed by and the last thing Susanna could see was Sebastian approaching her with a wicked smile and a syringe on his hand. It that moment, she thought her life would end by the hands of that demon who had betrayed her. Everything went dark again; darker than a new moon’s night.


	2. The devil himself at her service

The first thing Susanna noticed when she started to wake up was his aching body, as well as the light barely entering from the room’s curtain. She immediately recognized the ceiling, the bed sheets and her room but there was something odd… something that didn’t quite fit in there and when she opened her eyes, aside of the pain and the strange sensation on her neck, she noticed that she was not alone.  
“Good morning, Milady. How are you feeling?” a man wearing a casual black suit was beside her bed and he was gently smiling at her.  
“Sebastian?” she immediately recognized him but what was going on?  
“Please, don’t try to get up. You should rest…” the demon approached her, stopping her from getting out of the bed. He carried a glass with an orange beverage for her.  
“My dad!... he shouldn’t know that…” Sebastian once again stopped her from getting up and go outside to look for her father.  
“Do not worry, I already explained everything… or at least the official and censored version. He believes I’m someone your biological family sent, especially dispatched to take care of you before you inherit the company”  
“The company…” she put her hand on her forehead “this is too much to assimilate… and on top of that I have nausea”  
“Well, it is normal, Milady… yesterday you were kidnaped, brutally beaten up and you were exposed to at least a couple drugs. Drink this, it´s serum. You need to be hydrated, the blood loss left you weak.   
“What the heck did I get myself into?” she looked confused.”  
“Don’t think about it now. You should get some more sleep. I’ll inform your father about your condition. He might want to see you so… just tell him the necessary information, he doesn’t need to know about the contact or…“ he looked at her for an instant “or anything that happened yesterday“ his voice became rather spooky.  
“I’m surely full of bruises… and everything hurts… I don’t want him to see me like this” there was a pause and she thought again about everything that had happened and then turned to see Sebastian with a terrified expression “you are a demon! What the hell!“ she moved to the other side of the bed with a defensive attitude “this can’t be happening, you’re not a good person; you are not even a person! You are here just to take my soul away, I cannot trust you…“ Sebastian tried to make her lay down again but she was too flustered and didn’t let him touch her.  
“We made a contract and I offered you my unconditional help. Don’t be afraid, I will not hurt you. Your orders are absolute and I do not intent to harm you in any way“ he smiled, trying to show some kindness and seem trustful.  
“I don’t believe you!“ Sebastian laughed after hearing that and showed her the mark on his hand. It was a black pentagram that started to shine in a purple color. His eyes shone too, they had an intense pink glow that made his face look even more attractive and terrifying.  
“This is the contract’s signature. If I don’t fulfil the conditions, the contract will be undone and… I won’t get what I want” his smile was mischievous and his sharp fangs showed “I will not hurt you and I can surely guarantee you that. As your butler, I shall take care of you while the contract is active. Now, your father is coming, so… relax a little and please do not take off that bandage off your neck, or the contract mark will show and that would be difficult to explain, yes?”  
Up until that moment, Susanna wasn’t aware of the bandages she had on the arms, neck and feet. She knew her entire body should be a mess and just remembering the whole experience made her want to cry, but she didn’t have much choice but to remain silent and appear strong in front of her dad.   
Almost immediately there was a knock on the door and before it opened, Sebastian took a pair of black leather gloves and put them on, hiding the seal of the contract and his black nails. When the door opened, Susanna’s father entered, he was very worried about her but as soon as he saw her awake he relaxed and embraced her.   
“I thought I would never see you again“ the old man hugged her and tears left his eyes. The same thing happened to her and then Sebastian left the room.  
A couple minutes later, when the emotional moment had passed, Sebastian went back inside with a tray in his hands. He had brought tea and two cups neatly set. As soon as they saw him entering the door, he kindly smiled.  
“I’ve brought you some tea, to relax a little“ the butler served the hot liquid in both cups with a meticulousness worthy of the finest European butlers. Now he was wearing a formal suit, tailor-made with shirt and necktie, everything in black including the gloves. The jacket was fastened to one button, which framed his figure perfectly and made him look more serious and formal.  
“Thank you, Sebastian… now, could you please explain, with details what’s going on here?” Susanna’s father asked and his face showed how worried he was, as the girl had a distressed gesture. What could they possibly explain, that didn’t sound suspicious? Besides, her dad wasn’t easy to fool and he wouldn’t believe just any cheap excuse.  
“Yes, sir. I understand how worried you might be and how vague my last explanation was. I might bring up some sensitive subjects but…“ father and daughter listened what Sebastian was about to say “Susanna descends from an important family in Europe; Serafer, which is her real last name, might not be very popular, but nowadays she is the only inheritor of “AstraZeneca”, a company that…”  
“It’s a pharmaceutical company” the father interrupted. He was rather impressed with the explanation and tried to make some conjectures.   
“That’s right… a few months ago, Lady Susanna’s grandfather… Richard Serafer passed away and I was sent to look for his descendants. Soon, I found out that the Lady’s parents died soon after she was born. You see, her biological father escaped some years before her birth and came to this country. In here, he met a girl, they got married and had a daughter, but there were many political and economic interests in AstraZeneca at the time, so they were persecuted and finally led to give the girl on adoption” there was a little pause “for what I know, they gave her in adoption to protect her, and that’s when you, sir and your late wife appeared and took care of her. I’m very grateful that you took care of her and protected her up until now”  
Sebastian put his right hand on his chest and bowed, a gesture that exalted his formality and gratitude, like a real diplomat “but I’m afraid those people who…” there was a small silence which only the girl could understand; he was arranging the story “have economic interests want to take over the company at any cost. That is why they kidnapped your daughter. I was lucky to track her down on time, and with a heavy security operation we were able to rescue her.”  
After hearing that, the older man was speechless; he had never been too talkative, but he never thought her daughter might have that kind of background. For a couple instants, Susanna wondered if the story was convincing enough and looked at Sebastian with angst in her eyes; whatever happened, her dad couldn’t know the truth.  
“I understand” the man said at last “did they hurt you very bad?” he looked at his daughter, showing the fear he felt inside before the idea of them doing something else to harm her,  
“I was lucky they only beaten me up and…” she looked at the butler “Sebastian took me to the hospital” the man remained silent, as if he was organizing all the information he just heard, but suddenly he asked with distress on his voice.  
“Will Susanna have to go away?” he really wished Sebastian would tell him otherwise and it showed on the melancholy inside his eyes.  
“I’m afraid so” the demon answered, and just before the girl could say something, he explained “she must take care of the family business”  
“But….!”  
“It’s ok, my girl” he dad looked at her with tenderness in his eyes, a gesture that amazed Sebastian ”I understand”  
“You never mentioned that I would have to leave” I thought that…” there was a pause after her complaining and then she looked at his father “I won’t leave you, dad”  
“I can’t go with you” he answered and then his eyes filled with tears “this is the moment I always feared… but if you come to visit once in a while and we have videoconferences once a week, it won’t be so bad, you know?”  
“And I’m sure you can visit any time” she hugged him and looked again at the butler, who understood that he had to get out of the room for the time being.  
A couple days passed by and Susanna’s wounds healed little by little, but something inside her had changed. The trauma was too big and she tried to bury the memories of the kidnaping in a lost place of her mind. She wanted to forget the smell of that warehouse and the filthy hands of that man who was about to rape her. Aside of that, she would have scars on her torso that would surely remind her of the whole experience and what was about to happen.  
She had trouble sleeping and nightmares kept haunting her, although it had been a relief to not see those shadows around her at night. The last time she saw them was two days after the kidnap and something told her that Sebastian had something to do with it.  
She tried to keep away from all that as she found difficult to get used to her new reality, especially if it included a butler that followed her everywhere, not to mention his strange attitude and supernatural presence.  
She often thought about one of Sebastian’s comments; a couple of solemn and unexpected words for her.  
“The contract we have makes me your humble servant until the day you finish with those who tried to kill you. If you wish something, you only have to ask for it and you will have it; I won’t refute or disprove any of your orders, as long as you express them as such or your life is not in danger.”  
Yes, she had sold her soul on her own freewill, but she couldn’t help but feel scared for what would come next. She was afraid of living next to a demon; a supernatural creature, infernal and pure evilness incarnated. He devil himself at her service.  
There was an agreement between her and Sebastian, at least to make things functional and keep appearances with her father: the butler would accompany her during the day and he would have to return to his hotel or wherever he was staying at during the night. The truth was different, when night came, Sebastian would pretend to leave and then he would check the house’s surroundings, looking for suspicious people and then he would spend the rest of the night in the roof, just above the girl’s room in case there was a treat and to spend time with the cats that visited him.  
Susanna tried too hard to keep her life as it was. She knew she would have to say farewell to all that soon enough, so she didn’t interrupt her classes. Besides, it helped her to forget about the kidnap, at least for a couple hours.  
“How many times do I have to tell you that I can go to my class alone!” she as as she took her schoolbag   
“Miss, I don’t think it’s necessary to review, again, all the risks that you might be exposed to and…”  
“Alright, alright, but at least let me drive” she took the car keys, finally giving up.  
“I can agree to that, but when we move to England…”  
“Yeah, we still have time before that…”  
The girl left the house, waiting for Sebastian to accompany her. She didn’t have another option but to get used to him, despite how uncomfortable it might be. Her life had changed radically; one day she was a common person and the next one she was heiress of a powerful company and part of a family that was marked with a dark past what haunted them. And to make things worse, she would have to move to England, a very faraway country from hers, leaving her friends and, up until that moment, family behind, not to mention the constant and distressing guilt of selling her soul to the devil; part of her was not hers anymore, it was waiting to be taken away and she couldn’t stop thinking that perhaps, it would have been better to die before making that contract.  
Lucky for her, Sebastian had granted her a month and a half to finish with her business and to assimilate everything. Time was what she needed and her new butler was willing to give her that, but as soon as the day came, they would have to go to England and lead the family business as well as look for clues regarding her family’s past and fulfil the contract.  
The idea of Sebastian being a demon was something hard to take in, but he made things easy because he acted as if he was a human… most of the time… the fact that he didn’t eat nor sleep at all would be suspicious for anyone, so she ordered him to act as normal as possible, and that included keeping his “power” demonstrations and eccentricities at minimum. There was also the constant battle so the man wouldn’t look strangely unreal. No one could have that stance of his, appearing so straight and relaxed at the same time.  
On the other hand, Susanna always had her guard up when she spoke with Sebastian. His true identity was always in her mind and she would immediately rise an invisible barrier between them. He noticed that but didn’t do anything about it; he had lots of time ahead so he could earn her trust little by little, besides it added excitement to his game.  
When they arrived to the language school Sebastian got out from the car, hurrying to open the door for her and made some conversation.  
“It’s good that you are taking German lessons. The more languages you speak, the better for business meetings, although I will always be there for you in case you need a translator”  
“Well, is there something you cannot do?” her voice sounded bored, by that moment she was already used to the demon’s relative omnipotence.  
“Of course: anything that goes against your orders, miss” he was being flirty again, Sebastian acted as if he wanted to impress anyone who came near him and such attitude bothered Susanna a lot, especially when his charming attitude appeared,  
“Oh, go to hell… ” she said in annoyance.  
“That would certainly make me feel like home…” a mischievous smile appeared on his face.  
“Sebastian…” she looked at him with anger on her eyes “just shut up” he nodded and smiled as if he was an angel while they walked towards the school “I’ll see you here in a couple hours, ok?” the butler nodded again and followed her with the eyes as she walked up the stairs.  
Definitely, this new contract would be something different and it would keep him entertained for a while. Who knows what would happen this time, and that was exactly the fun part: every contractor was different and the conditions changed every time, although for Susanna, he already knew what the outcome would be; he had planned it long before everything started and he only had to wait and see how his prey evolved and how long before he could claim her soul.   
A month and a half ran away like water, but it was precious time that Sebastian used to familiarize with the girl’s tastes, cravings and whims. It was difficult at first because she wouldn’t leave her room. After the kidnap, she barely left the house, besides she didn’t trust him and evaded him whenever she could; she hid herself drinking every time her dad left for work. At that point, the demon decided to find out all about her hobbies, the food she liked, places she used to go and organized reunions and little partied with her friends. After that, he started to take her to museums, since she loved history, art expositions or even the movies making Susanna trust him little by little.  
Apparently she held a big grudge and bitterness after what happened, but there was a good natured person inside of her, which didn’t come out easily but it was evident in her soul and Sebastian knew it.  
At last, the day when they would have to move to England had arrived. Susanna couldn’t sleep the night before that and early in the morning a cab was waiting for her and Sebastian to take them to the airport.  
The farewell between Susanna and her father was, like any other, very sad. They both cried and held each other. They promised to keep in touch and visit as soon as possible. All those words trapped in her throat expressed the gratitude and love she had for her father, who despise anything, had been the one who raised her since she was a baby. Right before getting in the cab, the father looked askance at Sebastian and whispered something to him without her daughter noticing.  
Things would ever be the same. Susanna didn’t know if she would see her father again. Perhaps everything would end soon and her soul would be taken away by the demon… or maybe the distance would be so big that they would forget about each other, and that broke her heart.  
They arrived to the local airport, where a private jet which belonged to AstraZeneca waited for them.  
“Are you ready, Milady?... you won’t come back soon. Here starts your new life” Sebastian said as he offered her his hand to get in the plane. She didn’t notice until that moment, but for the first time since she met him, he looked like a real butler; black trousers and a tail jacket, immaculate white shirt and gloves and a dark gray vest. The black and slim necktie gave the last touch to the elegant outfit. And then she thought he looked slightly more attractive with that look  
“Let’s go” Susanna took his hand and got on the plane. It would be a long and monotonous journey, but at least she would have a couple hours to sleep, and that’s exactly what she did. She didn’t have nightmares anymore, but she felt tired, so her eyes closed as soon as the plane departed. The second part of the journey consisted on a series of recommendations from the Butler, who didn’t skip any detail on his advises and explanations about her new life. Apparently he knew everything about the Serafer family, as well as the proper behavior of the English high class. He also made a lot of emphasis on something.  
“From now on, instead of using a bandage to hide the contract mark, you could use a neckerchief or a scarf. That way, it will only look as an accessory that you like”  
Of course hiding the pentagram would be a good idea. It might look like a cool tattoo, very rock style but not so appropriate with the English business class.  
Those were 10 long hours of flight without stopovers and not much to do. When they finally arrived, Sebastian was the first one to go out. He wanted to make sure everything was under control. The girl followed him soon enough and they walked down the stairs that took them to the landing strip.  
“As I was saying in the plane, all arrangements have been done so you can live in the Serafer’s residence. And starting the day after tomorrow, you will take some intensive courses of management, English, etiquette, negotiations… but before that we need to do some shopping, urgently”  
“Wait, what’s wrong with my English?” she said in a huff.  
“Nothing, it’s just that… for practical purposes it would be better if you changed you accent a little” she glared at him “there is nothing bad with you accent, miss it is actually quite good, but for European businessmen it would be better if…”  
“Just a bunch of shallow details… alright. I don’t have another option, right? but something tells me you will enjoy this…” she noticed the mischievous smile on his butler.  
“What can I say? I do enjoy my job”  
“Pretty funny...”  
“And about etiquette…”  
“Are you implying that I don’t know how to behave in public?” she was joking; she knew she wasn’t a princess but her butler’s answer trully annoyed her.  
“Based on my observations while we were in your home country, I may add that there could be improvements… lots of improvements”  
“What did you say?” she looked at him very annoyed and she was getting angrier with every second he had that mocking smile on his face.   
“Sebastian! You just landed and you are already making the Lady angry” a male voice sounded near the airport hangar. He was a tall and grey haired, standing next to grey Rolls Royce Phantom.  
“Milady Susana, it’s an honor for me to introduce you to Thomas Haggard, who will be your personal chauffeur, as well as security chief from now on” the girl looked at him with some distrust and then she looked back at her butler, expecting an explanation about it “allow me to inform you that Mr. Haggard has been in charge of the security for the Serafer family for twenty years now, not to mention that he knows quite lot about your family and he was your grandfather’s most trusted man” that last thing was said with a persuasive tone.  
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Haggard” he shook her hand “I apologize for my caution but… I suppose you understand my situation”  
“Do not worry, Milady. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you” he looked at her for a little while “I’m sorry, but I cannot help but notice that you look a lot like your grandmother, Eleanor when she was your age… but apparently you have you grandfather’s character, as well as that look on your eyes”  
“…Thank you…” she smiled but felt a little nostalgic inside. She had never heard a comment such as that one and she was not used to it; she had already accepted that she would never look like anyone form her family because she was adopted. But now everything was different… way different.  
“Please, get in the car. It’s time for you to meet your new home” Thomas bowed a little as he approached the car, somehow communicating the girl that this would be the start of a completely new life, full of new things that she would have to adapt to.  
Right before getting in the car, Susanna looked at the plane that had brought them to England and the blue sky above them for one last time; she was saying goodbye to her relative freedom.  
The road to her new house was long; it took them around an hour, so she decided to put on her headphones as she observed the landscape through the window, although for a couple instants she was distracted by the car’s inside which was beautiful and had an exquisite white leatherwork as well as details and boards made of mahogany. The backseats had two armrests that kept her away from Sebastian, who turned to look at her once in a while, to check if she needed something or hoping she might want to talk.  
Susanna barely spoke at the plane, it was the butler the one who spoke most of the time, explaining English customs, schedules she would have to follow and some advises regarding how she had to present herself with others.  
The butler’s duties were mainly take care of her and make her daily life easier; the demon’s task was to find and help her destroy all those people who killed her family and tried to hurt her. In other words, make sure his part of the deal was done so he could take what he wanted.  
The landscape was beautiful. Summer was about to start and the trees seemed happier wearing green, contrasting with the idea Susanna had about England being cold and grey.  
“It looks beautiful, isn’t it?”  
“I’ve never been in another country, so…. I think I can get used to a landscape such as this” the girl smiled a little as she removed her headphones and put the ipod on her pocket “…in time”  
“And wait until you see the garden, I’m sure you will love it. As soon as you are settled in, you can take a walk in there if you’d like to”  
“Yes, I’d like that.”  
“I will make preparations when we get home” Sebastian smiled.  
When they finally arrived to the Serafer residence, Susanna observed everything as if it was unreal, like taken out from a movie. As soon as they approached the house’s grounds a huge metal gate opened. It had a heraldic crest on the top; a crest with two wings. After they entered, the first thing she noticed was the path made of stones that were almost blue, as well as the green gardens, bushes and trees with different shaped, each one perfectly trimmed.  
The car was parked right in front of a big mansion made of stone, with classic architecture, as well as some gothic details. The roofs were almost black, which contrasted with the light grey stones around the building. It had three floors and at least eight rooms.   
Susanna was about to get out from the car, but Sebastian was faster and opened the door for her, helping the girl to get out from the car.  
“How…?” she was about to ask; just a moment before he was sitting next to her and the next one he was opening the door. Being the demon he was, the unnatural speed was rather common “never mind…”  
“Milady…” he followed her with his eyes as she stepped out from the car “welcome to your new home” he smiled and pointed at the mansion, which was impressive.   
The girl stood there, speechless for a couple moments. She wanted to study the whole place and get familiarized with it, but she knew it would take her some time. It was such a big place and too luxurious to be true… the reality shock was getting more bizarre with every passing second and for an instant she thought she was dreaming, until a female voice distracted her.  
“She’s here! Fer, come on, the young mistress just arrived!” almost immediately a girl went out from the house. She was 25 years old at most, with blonde hair in a ponytail. Her merry eyes were dark green and she wore a classic maid outfit. She was smiling and happy to see them. The girl rushed down the few steps at the entrance and approached the car.  
Right behind her, another young man appeared. He looked younger than he actually was… perhaps 29 years old. He had freckles on his pink cheeks and light brown hair that became blonde as the hair was longer. He used a headband, like the ones used by soccer players to keep his hair away from his eyes; he even looked as if he had just went running or exercising because he was sweating. His eyes were dark brown and the expression on his face was kind and somehow innocent.  
“Miss Susanna, Let me introduce you to Abygaeil, the housekeeper”  
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sussanna” the blonde girl shook the other girl’s hand “you can call me Abby. Welcome, we were eagerly awaiting you”   
“Nice to meet you…” she said a little bewildered after Abby’s enthusiasm, as well as her accent; she wasn’t used to English accent, and although she quite liked it, it was still a little hard to follow.  
“And this is Ferdinand, he is in charge of the house maintenance and handyman” Sebastian pointed at the other man.  
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss” she approached and greeted her with solemnity “if you ever need something, don’t hesitate on asking and… I’m really sorry for my looks right now, I was just finishing installing the curtains in your room”  
“It’s really nice to meet you, Ferdinand”  
“Please, call me Fer. We are very glad that you are finally here” the young man smiled, making Susanna feel at peace after the warm welcome.  
“Very well, first I believe you should get more comfortable and perhaps take a little break in your room, after that we can start with the house tour. And while we are at it, what would you like to have for dinner, Milady?” Sebastian looked at his pocket watch.  
“Anything would be fine. I don’t fancy anything special”  
“Alright… Abby, take care of that, please. Fetuccini fromaggio would be fine”  
“Understood!” Abby ran towards the house.  
“Fer, help us out with the luggage, please. Now, would you please come with me, Milady?” the butler seemed to have everything under control and perfectly calculated.  
The house was huge and decorated with the finest things and excellent taste. It had a classic style but it was combined with modern things, making it look more elegant. Of course, many ornaments and paintings were family heritage.   
“All decorations have remained just like you grandfather left them, but feel free to change anything you don’t like” the butler explained as they went up the stairs, as if he was reading Susanna’s mind.  
They went directly to the girl’s room. The tour would wait until she made herself more comfortable, although she has already started to memorize the rooms and halls.  
“This will be your room” Sebastian opened the double wooden door and stood next to it, indicating Susanna to enter the room and right behind her was Fer, carrying the suitcases. Her first impression was that the room was quite cold, but ideal for resting. The bed was between two windows that let the sunlight enter the room and there was also a balcony with some comfortable patio chairs.  
It had a wooden floor and a queen size bed with night tables and lamps on each side, and right in front of them, small grey carpets that combined with the dark walls. There was also a mirror next to another door that lead to a dressing room and bathroom. There was also another small table next to a chest of drawers and two very comfortable sofas. It was a big room and well illuminated. It might needed her personal touch, but she was quite happy with the design of the place.  
“I… love it” she smiled as she looked around; a big and genuine smile after so long.  
“Mr. Sebastian sent us clear and detailed instructions to prepare your room” Fer put the suitcases next to the bed “he also specified that the curtains had to be dark and double so you could sleep well”  
“…Thank you” she looked at Sebastian with some regret in her eyes. She had always thought the worst things about him, and not without a reason; he was a demon, but little by little he demonstrated that he was there to help her, or that at least he cared and didn’t deserve her total disdain  
“My pleasure” was the only thing he said. He already knew how difficult it was for her to sleep and not waking up in the middle of the night with strange visions, so a dark room was ideal for her.  
“I suppose you’d like to unpack and perhaps rest al little. If you’d like to, I can give you a tour around the house later on” Fer was very friendly and transmitted her trust.  
“I’d love to”  
“We’ll leave you alone for a while. If you need something, just call us. We’ll be on the 1st floor” Said Sebastian as he left the room with Fer and closing the door.  
Susanna took some time to sit on the bed and look around. The room had apparently been recently remodeled and she was fascinated with her new dressing room, where she could keep lots of blouses, trousers, jackets, dresses, shoes… and she didn’t forget about the bathroom, which was quite big and with a bathtub next to a polarized window from where the garden could be seen. There should be a beautiful view at night.  
Unpacking could be left for later and she decided to start with the tour around the house along with Fer, who really knew every inch of the house. They started with the garage and then they walked around the great and colorful gardens and the small pond behind the house. The whole place was enclosed by a wall with an electric fence at the top, preventing anyone from entering the place without permission. Besides, there were multiple cameras around, which guaranteed the complete security of the place.  
Everything was clean and neat. The living room and dining room have beautiful paintings that went from impressionist to the best works of Van Gogh. Apparently, the Serafer family collected art. The dining room was high, and the table could hold up to twenty people. As for the living room, it had fluffy sofas and a nice fireplace which matched the wooden floor and the furniture. There were also pictures of her family on the fireplace wall, but she would leave that for later.  
Everything was decorated with an excellent taste and all ornaments were fine and luxurious, each one set in the right place, but the house didn’t look like a museum because it was warm and welcoming. It had potential to be a home.  
The next day, Sebastian took Susanna for some shopping. It was imperative for her to have a wide wardrobe which included clothes for any type of occasion, especially if she would soon lead the pharmaceutical company.   
The idea of shopping wasn’t fun at all; it wasn’t even attractive. At the moment, she didn’t exactly want to be surrounded by strange people on a country she didn’t know and choosing clothes, but Sebastian could be so persuasive and most of the time he got what he wanted, so even if Susanna opposed him, there were some battles that were already lost. At least she managed to evade her butler’s discreet flirting, which wasn’t exactly her cup of tea; he was way too bigheaded and arrogant, besides paying much attention to them would rest her authority, not to mention that it would elevate even more Sebastian’s huge ego.   
In exchange of being patient and do all the necessary shopping, Susanna decided to get some information from the demon, as soon as they were done with the clothes and Sebastian had taken all the bags to the car. They took a little walk around the mall while they talked.  
“Around the time we met… you mentioned something about a family heritage that was awaking. What did you mean by that?”  
“It was that night when you walked home, I remember…” he was thoughtful and adopted a serious attitude “I didn’t think you were paying attention”  
“I have good memory for details”  
“Sometimes you remind me of your grandfather “ there was a little smile on his face and after a pause his intense eyes focused on her as if he was about to say something very serious; an attitude she had never seen on Sebastian. She was almost sure that his eyes glowed for a bit.  
What was that heritage he spoke about?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> Well this is chapter 2. I hope you liked it what do you think? I’m planning on uploading a chapter every week so look forward to it and happy weekend!


	3. The reality

Sebastian and Susanna walked around the shopping mall, apparently having a casual conversation, but the truth was way too different.  
“What is this heritage you spoke about?” curiosity sounded on her voice.  
“It’s something you should have noticed several years ago, but the moment I started to look for you and…” there was a small pause; he was omitting something “…contact you, it became more notorious”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I’m sure you’ve noticed some strange things around you. Perhaps shadows or you could see things that pass right next to you and then disappeared” he waited until the girl nodded “they are reflexes of the many things existing in this universe and most humans cannot see them”  
“Aliens!” she joked.  
“It’s good to see you keep that sense of humor…”  
“You mean that the Serafer family is able to see… energy projections?”   
“That is correct” he remained silent for a while, thinking about what he just said.  
“And that accelerated because I was in contact with you?”  
“Yes, I made sure it awoke. That way, everything will be easier for our contract to be fulfilled” Sebastian was more serious than usual and she couldn’t help but think that he was hiding something. Still, she didn’t have much interest in that topic; she was afraid of what could happen and the more she could postpone it, the better.  
The next day, Susanna’s classes started. They were the kind of courses she would have to take in order to manage the company and make sure she was at the same level of the other stockholders. She was afraid and she reproached herself for it. She had faced worse difficulties, so a couple of economy classes couldn’t be that bad.  
She had to take different classes: business administration, modern economy theory, negotiation, language and commercial laws. It was like a semester at college, but instead of her studying political philosophy like she used to, she was learning about practical business situations. A change she couldn’t avoid.  
Sebastian made sure she had the best professors he could find. Some of them taught on prestigious universities and others were genius at what they did. He also made sure high executives from AstraZeneca kept her informed about the company’s stocks and movements. Those classes were done at the Serafer residence, where Susanna remained the whole day, studying and getting used to her new duties. After two weeks of intense courses and different “virtual simulations” she finally understood how to manage the business, at least in theory, and at the same time her mind was entertained. Nevertheless, she had trouble sleeping and she woke up a couple times during.  
Some of those times, Sebastian made her tea so she could relax and sleep well, while he told her stories about his life at the beginning of the century or details about the fancy mores during the Victorian era; bedtime stories she soon considered as the best part of the day.  
She paid attention to all her lessons; it wasn’t like she was there to get a grade or a diploma. This was real life and any mistake could bring negative consequences for her company.   
“Good morning, Milady. I’m glad to inform you that you don’t have any activity nor class scheduled for today. You are free for the whole day” said Sebastian right after entering the room and approaching her to gently wake her up; if there was something he had learned well during the past months, was to not wake her up abruptly or opening the curtains... no, that wasn’t a good idea at all, unless he wanted a pillow or a shoe thrown at his head.  
“Really?... what time is it?” she slowly woke up.  
“It’s 9 AM”  
“Then let me sleep a couple more hours”  
“As you wish, but keep in mind that you could take the opportunity to learn something else about your family” the butler tried to persuade her.  
“That can wait until 12, let me sleep…” she put a pillow on her face so she could sleep again.  
By midday she woke up and made up her mind to research about her families past; she was sure there would be something on that history which could be useful to understand why and how everything had started. She headed to the study on the second floor, where Sebastian had prepared a series of files, books and photographs.  
The place was decorated just like her grandfather left it, with a classic and rustic style. The walls were made of dark wood and an elegant desk was in front of the window, with a unique view of the garden and the horizon. There were also a couple of photographs in those walls, but Susanna asked Fer to take them away and the only remaining frame was the one with her grandfather’s image, staring at her while she worked.  
Once she was at the study, she checked all those documents, diaries and notes made by her late ancestors. She looked for some information that could explain why all that happened to her family. At the same time she learned many things about her family and felt some kind of identification with them, not only because they looked alike, there were some perceptions and opinions she shared with them. And then, for the first time since she arrived to that house, she took a look at the photos in the living room, now knowing who those people were.  
The next day was rather normal, nevertheless Susanna couldn’t possibly imagine about her butler’s plans for her. Everything appeared in order and his attitude didn’t change, but Sebastian was waiting for the perfect moment to show her the scope of their contract and give her a least a small taste of the things she would have to face.  
The night was approaching and Susanna’s classes were already over, as well as the strenuous paperwork, so she took a couple minutes to relax; she still had about an hour before dinner and she decided to have a whiskey in the rocks but as soon as she sat in the leather couch, Sebastian entered the study. He had a pair of folders in his hands and his usual calm expression.  
“How was your day, young mistress? Someone told me you’re doing great in business and administration classes”  
“I’m tired… but all this circus will worth it” she took a sip from her glass, looking serious because that was the mask she learned to use so she could hide her fears and anguish after the past experiences.  
“I know it will” Sebastian smiled evilly for an instant “and I believe it’s time we start working on that little something you want to destroy…” the demonic seal suddenly felt warm in Susanna’s neck; she knew what he meant.  
“I assume you already have information and whereabouts of those people”  
“It would be better if we start with the basics… there’s something you should know”  
“Why am I not surprised that you didn’t tell me everything, demon?” she tried to make her voice sound as rude as possible; her guard was up.  
“To be honest with you, I was waiting for the right moment to tell you this. I didn’t consider it adequate to tell you all, because of the nature of this information.  
“Nice excuse!” she said sarcastically, crossing her legs while sitting in the couch “or perhaps this task is way too difficult for you?” she arched an eyebrow, knowing that Sebastian’s pride was very susceptive.  
“Listen…” he approached her with steady steps and that demonic glow in his eyes, threatening and challenging “fulfilling the contract will take some time, as I said before, so you better start trusting me” he stood in front of her, looking down at her as an indicative of the deal they had. A gesture to make her angry.  
“Sure, especially because that attitude of yours if worthy of all my trust… let me remind you that avoiding some details makes you a liar and… from a legal perspective, that could even cancel the contract” she didn’t move from her seat and just leaned on the back of the couch as an answer to the butler’s attitude, who leaned over her. Now their faces were very close.  
“I considered that this information would affect you on a negative way” and suddenly his voice pitch was lower “humans are so fragile that I could almost feel sorry for you. Don’t worry, I won’t consider your pathetic psychological state anymore. Let’s see if what you show isn’t only a facade, Miss”  
“You are an insolent…” Susanna wanted to punch him in the face, but she didn’t know exactly why. Without any doubt his comment was hurtful, but Sebastian’s attitude was haughty and challenging, and at the same time she detested his closeness, not because she disliked it; on the contrary, it was a sensation she enjoyed more than she wanted to reckon.  
“Hmm… whatever…” he laughed evilly right before putting the right hand on her head.  
Susanna felt immediately a swirl all round her, as if she was falling from a cliff and the room disappeared. Now everything was dark and dry, like hollow. She tried to yell, but she failed. Nothing was heard there, nothing but her voice in her own head. Perhaps that was it; the end, and Sebastian had claimed her soul.  
She always pictured heaven as a joyful place, filled with light and her beloved ones near, while hell as an uncomfortable place with different tones of red all around, and where the worst punishments were felt, but since that moment she thought that, maybe the worst thing would be staying in that place; a black and empty limbo, where time couldn’t be calculated and alone… alone for all eternity, trapped in her own thoughts that would turn into executioner with each passing moment; every passing hour. Susanna felt anguish and had difficulty breathing. There was sweat in her forehead and her wands ached. She wanted to run but her legs didn’t move. It was the end.  
Suddenly, a laugh and a voice were heard.  
“The end?” he laughed again “no way. Let’s say that this is just an... intermediate space; a dimension created so you can see what I know.  
Susanna couldn’t speak and Sebastian’s voice was inside her thoughts. They would have to communicate through her mind, apparently.  
“Sebastian? What the fuck?” she was in despair  
“As soon as you get used to this darkness we’ll begin” his voice was calm but she continued with the panic attack; now she was afraid of being trapped there with the demon “don’t be afraid. I won’t harm you”   
“Get out of my mind!”  
“Just listen to the sound of my voice… relax and you will see what I’ll show you about the past” she tried to breathe and calm herself, but it was difficult. She felt insecure and way too conscious of her own mortality; a sensation that was more frequent every day “focus in the sound of my voice and it will be over soon” there was an echo inside her head “It will be difficult, but it’s necessary for you to know what you have to do. After all, you cannot fight mirages, so you better see the truth” a moment later she calmed down and she could see a small light in the distance, and it became bigger and bigger “alright, let us begin”  
And then Susanna was in the middle of an elegant living room with a beautiful wooden piano and a man with an antique suit playing it, as if he was trying to translate the tune I his head with his hands. It was night and the place was well illuminated. The wallpaper was dark blue and combined with the fine decorations that appeared from another era.  
“1880, Stockholm, Sweden” Sebastian’s voice was still in her head “that man is your 3rd great-grandfather”  
The man had her eyes on the keys, but her mind was somewhere else. He had a nostalgic aura that made him look distanced from reality if that is what that vision actually showed.  
Someone knocked on the door a couple minutes later and three men spoke with him but nothing could be heard from the conversation. Then, they went out as soon as the man took his hat. The next vision was on a dark street where the four men quietly walked until they reached a big and mysterious house. I looked like a simple house, but there was something odd about it. They knocked the door and entered. After that, the scene showed the same men along with other three; seven in total. They walked down some stairs and the one in the front carried a torch to light the way down.  
The 3rd great grand-father walked right behind the man with the torch. Their places couldn’t be random. Perhaps they followed a hierarchy expressed with actions and not words; everything looked as if it was taken from a movie edited without sounds and cut scenes.  
Then, they appeared on a basement, on a round table and speaking silent words. Apparently it was a common conversation but a few moments after that, the leader took a book and read it for his companions.  
The next scene was in the same living room from before, where the piano looked as another protagonist. In that room, Susanna’s 3rd great grand-father was hugging a younger boy of perhaps 18 years old.  
“That’s your great great grand-father. A boy who will change your family’s luck forever and ever” Sebastian’s comment sounded like a curse.   
Another scene showed the father and the son with those other men in the basement. It looked as if several years had passed and not the young boy was a young man and he was sitting next to the leader. They were talking and apparently exchanging ideas, although the younger one was leading the whole discussion. After that, another scene where the 3rd great grand-father wasn’t there anymore and the group of men was gathered, although something was different.  
The doom was darker and barely illuminated with candles. There was also a big book and some parchments in the table, which had a big vessel on its center as well. They stood in their places while the 2nd great grand-father spoke some words and held a black pearl in his right hand, and a sand clock in his left one.  
“Interesting, right?”  
“Are they… summoning a demon?”  
“No… as you already know, those ostentatious rituals and ceremonies are not necessary to summon us. They are asking for something. An orison.  
“What are they asking for? Sebastian sighed and Susanna was pretty sure that he had an irreverent smile on his face.  
“What all humans want: power… but look closely, something is about to happen”  
And then the fire in the candles extinguished and the darkness filled the place, although the black pearl shone. There was a purple shine which turned exactly into seven rays of light.  
Seven sparks that hit each men in the chest as if they were burning. Their faces showed hurt and for a moment, howls of agony and pain were heard inside that basement. An impressing scene, not just because of the pain, but for the environment of the place; spooky and hot, while a black shadow flew around the men in pain.  
It was a feminine silhouette whose face could barely be seen, but his eyes were all black, no pupils, like a black balls only covered by the eyelids, and then it looked at Susanna, as if she was conscious of the witnesses in the scene. Her lips moved like she was trying to tell the girl something, but there was no sound.  
The girl felt her heart stopping for a moment as that evil glare pierced into her, and the movements on her lips were perfectly memorized by Susanna. A horrible sensation that didn’t compare at all with the first time she met Sebastian. It was ten time worse and more terrifying.   
“Enough of this images. Let’s go a little forward” Sebastian’s voice was firm. Evidently he noticed what happened.  
“What was that?”  
“A fallen angel. But we still have much more to see”  
They appeared on a different place. A garden filled with flowers and a table. A beautiful scenario behind a big and fancy house where a party was being held. A lot of people was there, but in the garden, two men walked: the 2nd great grand-father and a younger boy.  
“My great grand-father?”  
“That is correct. Listen to what they are saying, it’s important”  
Both men walked in the garden, approaching a small path surrounded by bushed that looked like walls.  
“What is it you want to tell me, father?”  
“You are not a child any more, and you should know certain things. Things about our family, the kind of knowledge that passes on with every generation. It is a secret that goes from father to son, and in the past few years, is more valuable than ever”  
“Are we going to talk about business? Really? Father, we are in the middle of my mother’s birthday party, can’t we leave this for later?”  
“It’s not about business” his voice was authoritarian and the boy immediately understood how important this thing should be “you are part of the Serafer family. We have a lot of history behind us. Sweden has always been our home and since you were a child, I’ve taught you to love it. I trust your studies in chemistry will be useful when the time comes”  
“They will, father”  
“Someday you will be the head of the Serafer family, and as such you will have to bear great responsibilities, not only as a family man. There is a secret that we treasure and that you shouldn’t trust to anyone else, not even the woman who one day will be your wife. You can only mention this to your son; your heir” the boy’s face looked gloomy as they kept walking “we are part of a group… a bunch of men who want to change the world”  
And then they met the other 6 men who were present during that scene at the basement.  
“I would like you to meet mister Janssens, Guillot, Schneider, Reznik, Crawford and Soler. Although you already knew some of them”  
“Good afternoon” the boy’s voice was trembling.  
“My son… these are my best friends, as I’ve already told you, but they are also my allies; my brothers with whom I will change the world. We’ll show you…”  
They all approached the boy and walked next to him as they told them about what they did in those meetings they had, but before that, they quoted:

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?  
— Nietzsche, The Gay Science  
“Nietzsche?”  
“That’s correct, boy” said one of the men “we’ve killed God, and not only us, but everyone around us. We have been blind for a long time; humanity has been. We are not the only creatures in this world, do you think those things you see are just your imagination?” the boys had a terrified look in his eyes “of course they aren’t. We all see them, and that’s because you have the gift. We all have a gift given to us by “one of them” Perhaps we are not strong enough yet. We humans are weak by nature, but inside us there is something the rest of the creatures don’t have, and that’s why this power was given to the seven of us”  
“Seven?”  
“That’s right, each of us have a different gift and we got it after many generations of research, so one day we’ll be able to redeem ourselves; to change history that has been stained in the name of God.,. a God that we killed long time ago, but that still exists and doesn’t care about us”  
“You mean that…”  
“It’s time to get free of those stupid rules. We now have the power and the allies we need” another man explained.  
After that the scene changed again. It was a dark night on the streets of an unknown city, a couple years after that meeting with the young great grand-father, who now was running very fast. He was desperately looking for an address. He carried a back pack filled with papers and in his hand he had the number 304 written down.  
That was the number of the house he broke in, without anyone seeing him. He went up the stairs, careful to not make any sound until he reached the main dormitory where his father was sleeping. He hesitated a little and with his shaking hand he took a knife from his jacked and stabbed the man on the bed.  
Drops of blood flew everywhere and a scream of pain could be heard, but not for long. The cuts were precise and direct to the main veins, so the man dies almost instantly, ad right before the servants could enter the room, the boy left the room by jumping from the window, running away to not come back anymore.  
It was a cruel scene; a son killing his father, and after that al scenes were as violent as that one; deaths and murders, intrigues, betrayals and more violence. The great grand-father’s family had been haunted and persecuted for many years. The tortures were cruel and Susanna felt dizzy as those images reached her eyes. It was a terrible past she already knew about, but looking at it with her own eyes was very, very different.  
She finally understood what was behind all that. Her ears buzzed and she felt nausea. Everything became blurry as the violent images appeared, infernal creatures, disturbing images and the worst of mankind was in front of her eyes, but right before losing consciousness she heard Sebastian’s voice.  
“Welcome to reality…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!  
> Well, I think this one was quite dense, but I love it. Also, my recommendation would be to listen “The truth” by The Calling while reading that part where Sebastian shows her those images. I actually wrote this part thinking about this song so I feel like it’s a complement for this fanfic, so if you have the time, check it out.  
> Also, that fragment from Nietzche is real. Quite interesting, by the way, but I adapted it to the story, so I cut some parts.  
> Please, feel free to leave any comments or suggestions.


	4. Peculiar meetings

Chapter 4. Peculiar meetings.  
The curtain on Susanna’s bedroom were barely opened, just the necessary to light the dark room. It was past midday and she was lying in bed, inside a deep slumber caused by last night’s shock. Sebastian was next to her, sitting on a chair in front of the night table and preparing some tea. He wouldn’t stop looking at her, for he was trying to visualize the smallest gesture on her face that might indicate him she was about to wake up. She had been like that for hours now. She didn’t feel so well after those images from last night. It had been like an awakening to her true nature and her body’s immediate response was to be left unconscious, although Sebastian had played his part as well, he made her sleep for a while so she could regain strength.  
When he made a gesture and moved in the bed, the butler knew she was about to wake up so he made sure the tea was still hot. After the impression and shock, it was possible that she might need something stronger than tea, so he prepared a pill as well, just in case.  
Susanna slowly opened her eyes, gaining consciousness little by little and recognizing her room, then she turned to look at Sebastian, who was smiling at her very gently, as if there was nothing wrong in the in the world and all those thing he showed her last night were just part of a dark fantasy. Bu she knew better, he was only pretending and trying to convince her that things weren’t so complicated and difficult.  
“Please, tell that it’s not only tea what you have there…” her eyes filled with tears.  
“I’m afraid so, but I’ve got a pill that might help you a little. I wouldn’t recommend it, thou”  
“What time is it?”  
“It’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon, miss.”  
“Alright, then get me a glass whiskey” Sebastian was about to object, but her eyes stopped him “it’s an order” and then the butler left the room and soon after that came back with the glass.  
“I know you will not listen to me but I have to say it… you just woke up, you shouldn’t drink alcohol with an empty stomach”  
“For God’s sake, it’s 2 PM, not 8 AM. Besides… I really could use an explanation about what I saw yesterday” she made a pause and drank from the glass. “my family… was part of a secret society…”  
“That is correct”  
“And the managed to summon… that thing”  
“A fallen angel”  
“I thought fallen angels were demons” she was very confused, after all many thing she thought were true had just become lies.  
“Not all of them became demons. There were some that remained apart, apparently they didn’t consider being on the same level than us” there was a little indignation in his voice, he was remembering a not so happy memory.  
“I see, but he, or her… gave them what they needed, or something. I would have thought that this is all part of a fantastic legend if I didn’t know summons are quite possible… but you have to give something in exchange. And as I understood, they got some kind of power or gift.  
“That’s right. And such gifts will unbind their true power” Sebastian said that with a serious tone, and it was a very serious matter, indeed.  
“But what are they looking for? What do they want? I understood some of those philosophic explanation but what the hell are they looking for? What do they want to achieve? It must be related to some other… realm? I mean, something outside this world, or whatever is called.   
“Indeed, but I couldn’t say what they are looking for, but I’m pretty sure it’s related to the occultism or the undergrown world, as you call it. And that gift they talked about is something you already experienced. All those visions and images of strange things that no one else seemed to notice, were part of your potential as heir to such gift.   
“That legacy you talked about some days ago…. Is it completely awaken?”  
“I’m positive about it. You have to keep in mind that your life has changed forever. And let me remind you that it happened since the moment I had contact with you, although you were destined for it”  
“It’s like a novel book. That kind of thing just don’t happen; someone would have already noticed it!”  
“You, more than anyone else have to understand that there are some events, unexplainable for humanity; miracles, ghost, strange appearances and disappearances but everything has an explanation, it’s just that the truth is so complicated, so old and so real that humans decide to not believe it and they buried away the vestiges of the true story, to the point it became in superstition and fantasy” Sebastian explained. His voice was deep and smooth and for the first time Susanna thought she was speaking with the demon himself   
“The truth is, beings like me exist, and we have been here since the beginning of the time but you, humans, decide to ignore us because you decided to, because it was convenient for your selfishness. I think you were afraid from the start; scared to be defenseless and inferior to all the other beings, that’s why you look for power. But your great great grand-father understood it very well: you are not. From all creatures you are the only ones who could be saved and you have the freedom to renounce to it, just like you did it when our contract was made. And that, young mistress, is a great power, not to mention what those seven men you saw achieved. They didn’t only abandon they salvation, but the one from their whole family as well and they made an alliance with the fallen angels”  
“Those same angels from the antique legends”  
“The same ones”  
“I…” she looked down at the bed sheets over her legs. Her mind was blank, except for the word “No”. It was all she could thing about. She didn’t want to do it. She never thought it would be an easy task, but facing things that exceeded that much wasn’t in her plans and she was afraid.  
“I know you might want to run, but you don’t really have a choice” Sebastian served some tea on a cup, hoping she would drink it instead of the whiskey. She wanted to cry so badly, but she pinched herself over the pajamas to prevent it. That small pain made her put the feet on the ground.  
“Who do you think I am?... yes, it’s a fucking mess and I know it. It’s a legacy I don’t want. My soul was doomed from the start, unless I died a violent and horrible death but now you are the one who’s going to have it, so let’s make it worth it. Those bastards have to die and I will enjoy seeing them drowning in their agony, just like they did with my family. Someone has to do it and I’m the one with the responsibility” there was bitter in her voice and after a moment she said “I’m going to take a bath”  
“The stood up from the bed and headed to the bathroom, leaving the bed undone and the pill on the night table, and after following her with the eyes, Sebastian smiled, bowed and left the room.  
“Hehehe,.. I knee f I stayed with the Serafer family my reward would eventually arrive” his facer darkened and his fangs showed behind the smile.  
Some minutes later, after taking a bath, Susanna made up her mind and went out of her room looking for Sebastian, who was making all arrangements for lunch.  
“Sebastian, I want all the information you can get about fallen angels, related rituals and family files that might contain what we are looking for…“ there was determination in her eyes and an angry glow in her eyes showed. At last, the moment Sebastian was waiting for hat arrived. The moment when her determination, motivation and nature would focus on reaching her goal and her soul would take the shape he long awaited from the beginning.   
“Yes, Milady”  
An hour later, Sebastian arrived with a pile of book in his arms and put them on the studio’s desk, right in front of Susanna.  
“For starting, here is a compilation of old rituals related to summons, angels and sacrifices. I suggest you to start with this while I look in the basement for old files. I think your forefathers kept diaries so they should be there. This house has many hidden places, so I better start looking”  
“Thank you. And before going to the basement, please tell Abby to get me some coffee. I think I will be here for a while. And I don’t want any interruptions, ok?”  
The day passed and Susanna was still in the studio, researching and looking for clues.  
“Miss¨?” the butler knocked on the door and opened it to check if she was alright-  
“Yes?” she said without thinking. She was immersed in the book she was reading.  
“It’s almost midnight and you haven’t eaten anything in the whole day” he entered the studio with a tray and something to eat.  
“Almost midnight?” Goddamnit” she cursed and Sebastian laughed after hearing the comment.  
“You should eat something”  
“Yes, you’re right” she stood up from her desk and sat on the couch, taking the sandwich Sebastian had brought “did you find something?”#  
“Aside of some diaries, there are some thing you might be interested in, you should take a look at them tomorrow morning”  
“Yes…” she ate the sandwich while looking thoughtful “how could you shoe me all those imaged? They looked so… real”   
“Advantages of my powers and many images were courtesy of some… contacts” he eaised an eyebrow, remembering certain character with red hair who let him see a couple cinematic records a couple months before.  
“Contacts?” she was intrigued.  
“That’s right.. But that’s a story for another time. For now, you should go to sleep. You might continue with your investigation tomorrow after classes.  
Some days passed by and she managed to gather some interesting information. Her knowledge about rituals and dark things had apparently awaken her senses a little more and now she could distinguish shadows from energy remains; perhaps spirits or reflexes from another dimension. Whatever it was, she felt less scared than before and super natural things weren’t so terrifying, she also empathized with her butler, who had as well gained her complete trust.   
Monday morning after a long weekend. For obvious reasons not many people was happy about going back to work that day at AstraZeneca’s central labs; some workers looked rather happy but some other looked tired and grumpy, as if they wanted the long weekend to last longer.  
“Sebastian, remind me to make sure some recreation areas are set for workers and… perhaps some adjustments on their schedules”  
“If course, Miss”  
Susanna and her butler walked around the halls of the labs. They had an important meeting with project leaders and a presentation for new products. Little by little she had involved on the company’s business and started to destine part of the profits on research for uncommon diseases and charities, which caused stirs among the other shareholders, but a new challenge for doctors and scientists working there.  
As for Sebastian, he was very entertained with her decisions and changes around the company. His experience with the human world showed him some patterns on businessmen’s’ behavior as well as in people with certain power. And he had also noticed different motivations and behaviors on ordinary people. Social reactions entertained him a lot and he even had caused one or two disputes during his free time during the past centuries… but that was a long time ago; emperors were extent now and his attention was taken by some other things that brought him personal gains. Nevertheless, he smiled as he remembered past misdeeds.   
When he was back in the present time, he noticed he and the girl being the only ones left in the meeting room.  
“Earth to Sebastian? Houston, I think we have an absent demon… what are we doing to do?!” she said from her seat  
“I apologize for my behavior, miss… I was lost in my own thoughts and that is not proper for a butler”  
“Is something wrong?”  
“Nothing, it’s just that certain changes on the company remained me of some pat experiences and I was wondering…” he has a tiny smile on his lips, but his eyes looked reproachful as he asked “why so much altruism?”  
“Altruism?” he looked at him as if he had said some unknown Word “not at all, it’s just a social obligation.”  
“Interesting, and your actions have some logic on them, according to human standards”   
“Again with the superiority complex?”  
“I don’t pretend to upset you, but I couldn’t help but think that perhaps you are doing a last attempt to redeem yourself and perhaps your soul…”  
“Oh wow, and now you are a psychologist”  
“Another defense mechanism! How interesting!”  
“Goddam…. Fuck!” she was upset after realizing the irony in her words “just keep your comments to yourself because I find the idea of getting a dog very attractive right now…” the butler’s mocking smile disappeared immediately “ or perhaps two… you know? we should go to the dog refuge on our way home, what do you think?”  
“I think you shouldn’t make any rash decisions”  
“I would never do that without a good reason. But let’s go, we have other things to do”  
“Very well, Milady… just remember that, even if you try to save your soul, there is nothing you can do about it” Sebastian followed Susanna with his eyes, which turned into demon eyes; that proactive attitude of doing kind acts were interesting for him knowing she was trying to leave a positive and good legacy after her.   
At first, he thought it was for compensating the contract and the loss of her soul, but then he understood they were disinterested action; just because she wanted to do some good in the world and that kind of soul would be even more fun to corrupt. Leaving a dark stain in something so well intended and somehow pure gave him a lot of pleasure.  
That same day, they had to take care of some other legal business with migration and they also had another appointment at 5 PM. It was just a formal interview to get the British nationality; boring paperwork she had to fill so she could legally be in charge of AstraZeneca. Later on, they would have to go and pay a visit to the company’s central offices to have some presence and get familiarized with it, but before that Susanna decided to stop for some coffee in one of the places nearby a park that picked her attention when she first saw it. It was a place surrounded by green tones and a calm atmosphere around it which made you want to chill out and enjoy the peace.  
Susanna was sitting in one of the benches of the Clapham Common park; a strategic point where she could see the fountain and the cafeteria where Sebastian had gone to get her cappuccino was be at her back. The place brought her memories of her home country and it had the so needed calm. She was listening music on her headphones when she saw a person standing a couple meters away. He was a tall and thin man wearing an impeccable black suit.   
He looked like a serious man and he held the same expression as he looked at her. When they made eye contact she felt the impulse of taking her headphones off. His eyes had a very unusual color that mesmerized her for an instant and then the man approached.  
“Can you see me?” his voice was deep and he had a thick English accent.   
“Of course I can see you, you are not invincible” she said calmly, but her curiosity awoke with the comment.  
“That is, indeed, strange. Normal humans cannot see us unless we allow them to” he said as he adjusted his glasses.  
“Believe me, my life is way less than normal. It’s a family thing you know?” he sighed and the man stood in front of her.  
“My name is William T Spears and I’m a shinigami” he handed her a card.  
“You mean like a grim reaper?... interesting. I’m…”  
“Susanna Serafer, I know” she was surprised after hearing that, but she didn’t feel insecure.  
“Are you watching me?”  
“If I answer that question, you will have to do the same for me” she nodded and William made a pause as he sat next to her “miss Serafer, I’m afraid you have been in our to-die-list for a while and we will have to collect your soul”  
“Collect my soul?... that sounds as if you were talking about taxes and not sous. But I understand, I guess. My soul should be about to leave this world” William as surprised with her answer and the calm in her attitude “and you know what? If I have to die in this moment, I will. Although it would have been better to do it in the middle of an extraordinary thing or some kind of transcendent thing but I do not have the strength for that right now… not after what I’ve done and lived, so I guess I don’t deserve such a thing. Nevertheless, I still have a pending issue, so I wouldn’t like to die right now” the shinigami looked at her with all his attention, intrigued by her attitude towards death and something about her picked her attention “it’s strange, you know? I never thought I would speak with the death himself, not that I thought it was possible, but since I was little I could feel and see many supernatural things. It’s just that I decided to ignore them and now I’m completely conscious of my surroundings. Nothing seems extraordinary now, especially around those things I have to deal with, and everything is so strange that death would be a relieve”   
“Tell me about those strange things you deal with” William showed a lot of interest in the talk.  
“I can only say that… for some reason that didn’t have to do with me at all, I ended up as the head of the family company, and every day I feel terribly disappointed after seeing the kind of people who control the world… so much that it makes me sick. I suppose you see that every day”  
“Every time we collect a soul we see their past”  
“Interesting… then I’m sure you know what I mean” William nodded “I know my life is full of mistakes, but at least there is something I don’t regret and I’m proud of. Thanks to my company, I can support the research of different diseases. At least that is something positive, right?... and it’s weird that I tell you all this. I don’t even know you. I only now that you are death”  
The girl remained silent as William looked at her, his eyes studying her; for the first time in many years he had second thoughts about his decision of reaping a soul, and then he saw a wrist band on Susanna was wearing. It was a plastic purple band with some letters on it, but he couldn’t read them because of her hand’s position, on her lap. Nevertheless she noticed it.  
“Do you like it? It’s a bracelet from one of the campaigns I lead. It’s actually the most important for me… it supports the research for lupus, that is an…”  
“Autoimmune disease. I know” William adjusted his glasses again as he kept looking at her “I’ve collected the soul of many people with that disease…” something changed in his eyes.  
“I can only imagine…” she took of the bracelet and gave it to him “you can have this one. I’ve got lots of them and what matters is the meaning” there was a pause and the reaper stared at the bracelet and then he looked at the sky, with the same thoughtful expression he had since a couple minutes before. The girl sighed “it’s strange that…”  
Her words were interrupted when William stood up and walked away from her, adjusting his glasses again.  
“Honestly, I never thought it would come to this… Farewell, Susanna Serafer”  
“I thought I was going to… die” she looked at him confused,  
“You will not. At least not today, or on the near future” he kept walking.  
“Weren’t you going to ask something?”  
“You answered my question before I could formulate it. See you later, Miss Serafer”  
Said William with a chivalrous gesture and used his death scythe to reach a nearby roof and disappear, leaving Susanna with many doubts that showed in her face expression until a male voice ranged on her ears.  
“Is something wrong, Milady?”  
“Nothing, it’s just that…” she kept looking at the direction where the shinigami disappeared, still los ton her thoughts, but soon she regained consciousness “you got the cappuccino?”  
“Of course, but I apologize for the long waiting, Miss… apparently the guy in the cafeteria doesn’t know how to use the till” Sebastian said as he gently handed her the coffee.  
“What if something had happened to me while you were away?” she drank from the cup.  
“I highly doubt it, Milady. If your life was in danger, I would have immediately noticed… our contract would alert me if such thing happened” he smiled “has something happened while I was away?”  
“No. Just an interesting talk with a peculiar man”  
After drinking her coffee they both walked towards the car to continue with their schedule, while at the other side of the city, William T Spears made some notes on her death book.  
“Susanna Serafer, postponed death because of her utility for humanity. Her support for the research of a certain disease will lead to its cure“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author notes:  
> Hi, guys! Thanks for reading the fanfic, and now we are in chapter 4! This is exciting and everything will get more interesting and complicated from now on, so please look forward to it! Any comment is welcome, so please feel free to share it with me.


	5. The reality

Sebastian and Susanna walked around the shopping mall, apparently having a casual conversation, but the truth was way too different.  
“What is this heritage you spoke about?” curiosity sounded on her voice.  
“It’s something you should have noticed several years ago, but the moment I started to look for you and…” there was a small pause; he was omitting something “…contact you, it became more notorious”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I’m sure you’ve noticed some strange things around you. Perhaps shadows or you could see things that pass right next to you and then disappeared” he waited until the girl nodded “they are reflexes of the many things existing in this universe and most humans cannot see them”  
“Aliens!” she joked.  
“It’s good to see you keep that sense of humor…”  
“You mean that the Serafer family is able to see… energy projections?”   
“That is correct” he remained silent for a while, thinking about what he just said.  
“And that accelerated because I was in contact with you?”  
“Yes, I made sure it awoke. That way, everything will be easier for our contract to be fulfilled” Sebastian was more serious than usual and she couldn’t help but think that he was hiding something. Still, she didn’t have much interest in that topic; she was afraid of what could happen and the more she could postpone it, the better.  
The next day, Susanna’s classes started. They were the kind of courses she would have to take in order to manage the company and make sure she was at the same level of the other stockholders. She was afraid and she reproached herself for it. She had faced worse difficulties, so a couple of economy classes couldn’t be that bad.  
She had to take different classes: business administration, modern economy theory, negotiation, language and commercial laws. It was like a semester at college, but instead of her studying political philosophy like she used to, she was learning about practical business situations. A change she couldn’t avoid.  
Sebastian made sure she had the best professors he could find. Some of them taught on prestigious universities and others were genius at what they did. He also made sure high executives from AstraZeneca kept her informed about the company’s stocks and movements. Those classes were done at the Serafer residence, where Susanna remained the whole day, studying and getting used to her new duties. After two weeks of intense courses and different “virtual simulations” she finally understood how to manage the business, at least in theory, and at the same time her mind was entertained. Nevertheless, she had trouble sleeping and she woke up a couple times during.  
Some of those times, Sebastian made her tea so she could relax and sleep well, while he told her stories about his life at the beginning of the century or details about the fancy mores during the Victorian era; bedtime stories she soon considered as the best part of the day.  
She paid attention to all her lessons; it wasn’t like she was there to get a grade or a diploma. This was real life and any mistake could bring negative consequences for her company.   
“Good morning, Milady. I’m glad to inform you that you don’t have any activity nor class scheduled for today. You are free for the whole day” said Sebastian right after entering the room and approaching her to gently wake her up; if there was something he had learned well during the past months, was to not wake her up abruptly or opening the curtains... no, that wasn’t a good idea at all, unless he wanted a pillow or a shoe thrown at his head.  
“Really?... what time is it?” she slowly woke up.  
“It’s 9 AM”  
“Then let me sleep a couple more hours”  
“As you wish, but keep in mind that you could take the opportunity to learn something else about your family” the butler tried to persuade her.  
“That can wait until 12, let me sleep…” she put a pillow on her face so she could sleep again.  
By midday she woke up and made up her mind to research about her families past; she was sure there would be something on that history which could be useful to understand why and how everything had started. She headed to the study on the second floor, where Sebastian had prepared a series of files, books and photographs.  
The place was decorated just like her grandfather left it, with a classic and rustic style. The walls were made of dark wood and an elegant desk was in front of the window, with a unique view of the garden and the horizon. There were also a couple of photographs in those walls, but Susanna asked Fer to take them away and the only remaining frame was the one with her grandfather’s image, staring at her while she worked.  
Once she was at the study, she checked all those documents, diaries and notes made by her late ancestors. She looked for some information that could explain why all that happened to her family. At the same time she learned many things about her family and felt some kind of identification with them, not only because they looked alike, there were some perceptions and opinions she shared with them. And then, for the first time since she arrived to that house, she took a look at the photos in the living room, now knowing who those people were.  
The next day was rather normal, nevertheless Susanna couldn’t possibly imagine about her butler’s plans for her. Everything appeared in order and his attitude didn’t change, but Sebastian was waiting for the perfect moment to show her the scope of their contract and give her a least a small taste of the things she would have to face.  
The night was approaching and Susanna’s classes were already over, as well as the strenuous paperwork, so she took a couple minutes to relax; she still had about an hour before dinner and she decided to have a whiskey in the rocks but as soon as she sat in the leather couch, Sebastian entered the study. He had a pair of folders in his hands and his usual calm expression.  
“How was your day, young mistress? Someone told me you’re doing great in business and administration classes”  
“I’m tired… but all this circus will worth it” she took a sip from her glass, looking serious because that was the mask she learned to use so she could hide her fears and anguish after the past experiences.  
“I know it will” Sebastian smiled evilly for an instant “and I believe it’s time we start working on that little something you want to destroy…” the demonic seal suddenly felt warm in Susanna’s neck; she knew what he meant.  
“I assume you already have information and whereabouts of those people”  
“It would be better if we start with the basics… there’s something you should know”  
“Why am I not surprised that you didn’t tell me everything, demon?” she tried to make her voice sound as rude as possible; her guard was up.  
“To be honest with you, I was waiting for the right moment to tell you this. I didn’t consider it adequate to tell you all, because of the nature of this information.  
“Nice excuse!” she said sarcastically, crossing her legs while sitting in the couch “or perhaps this task is way too difficult for you?” she arched an eyebrow, knowing that Sebastian’s pride was very susceptive.  
“Listen…” he approached her with steady steps and that demonic glow in his eyes, threatening and challenging “fulfilling the contract will take some time, as I said before, so you better start trusting me” he stood in front of her, looking down at her as an indicative of the deal they had. A gesture to make her angry.  
“Sure, especially because that attitude of yours if worthy of all my trust… let me remind you that avoiding some details makes you a liar and… from a legal perspective, that could even cancel the contract” she didn’t move from her seat and just leaned on the back of the couch as an answer to the butler’s attitude, who leaned over her. Now their faces were very close.  
“I considered that this information would affect you on a negative way” and suddenly his voice pitch was lower “humans are so fragile that I could almost feel sorry for you. Don’t worry, I won’t consider your pathetic psychological state anymore. Let’s see if what you show isn’t only a facade, Miss”  
“You are an insolent…” Susanna wanted to punch him in the face, but she didn’t know exactly why. Without any doubt his comment was hurtful, but Sebastian’s attitude was haughty and challenging, and at the same time she detested his closeness, not because she disliked it; on the contrary, it was a sensation she enjoyed more than she wanted to reckon.  
“Hmm… whatever…” he laughed evilly right before putting the right hand on her head.  
Susanna felt immediately a swirl all round her, as if she was falling from a cliff and the room disappeared. Now everything was dark and dry, like hollow. She tried to yell, but she failed. Nothing was heard there, nothing but her voice in her own head. Perhaps that was it; the end, and Sebastian had claimed her soul.  
She always pictured heaven as a joyful place, filled with light and her beloved ones near, while hell as an uncomfortable place with different tones of red all around, and where the worst punishments were felt, but since that moment she thought that, maybe the worst thing would be staying in that place; a black and empty limbo, where time couldn’t be calculated and alone… alone for all eternity, trapped in her own thoughts that would turn into executioner with each passing moment; every passing hour. Susanna felt anguish and had difficulty breathing. There was sweat in her forehead and her wands ached. She wanted to run but her legs didn’t move. It was the end.  
Suddenly, a laugh and a voice were heard.  
“The end?” he laughed again “no way. Let’s say that this is just an... intermediate space; a dimension created so you can see what I know.  
Susanna couldn’t speak and Sebastian’s voice was inside her thoughts. They would have to communicate through her mind, apparently.  
“Sebastian? What the fuck?” she was in despair  
“As soon as you get used to this darkness we’ll begin” his voice was calm but she continued with the panic attack; now she was afraid of being trapped there with the demon “don’t be afraid. I won’t harm you”   
“Get out of my mind!”  
“Just listen to the sound of my voice… relax and you will see what I’ll show you about the past” she tried to breathe and calm herself, but it was difficult. She felt insecure and way too conscious of her own mortality; a sensation that was more frequent every day “focus in the sound of my voice and it will be over soon” there was an echo inside her head “It will be difficult, but it’s necessary for you to know what you have to do. After all, you cannot fight mirages, so you better see the truth” a moment later she calmed down and she could see a small light in the distance, and it became bigger and bigger “alright, let us begin”  
And then Susanna was in the middle of an elegant living room with a beautiful wooden piano and a man with an antique suit playing it, as if he was trying to translate the tune I his head with his hands. It was night and the place was well illuminated. The wallpaper was dark blue and combined with the fine decorations that appeared from another era.  
“1880, Stockholm, Sweden” Sebastian’s voice was still in her head “that man is your 3rd great-grandfather”  
The man had her eyes on the keys, but her mind was somewhere else. He had a nostalgic aura that made him look distanced from reality if that is what that vision actually showed.  
Someone knocked on the door a couple minutes later and three men spoke with him but nothing could be heard from the conversation. Then, they went out as soon as the man took his hat. The next vision was on a dark street where the four men quietly walked until they reached a big and mysterious house. I looked like a simple house, but there was something odd about it. They knocked the door and entered. After that, the scene showed the same men along with other three; seven in total. They walked down some stairs and the one in the front carried a torch to light the way down.  
The 3rd great grand-father walked right behind the man with the torch. Their places couldn’t be random. Perhaps they followed a hierarchy expressed with actions and not words; everything looked as if it was taken from a movie edited without sounds and cut scenes.  
Then, they appeared on a basement, on a round table and speaking silent words. Apparently it was a common conversation but a few moments after that, the leader took a book and read it for his companions.  
The next scene was in the same living room from before, where the piano looked as another protagonist. In that room, Susanna’s 3rd great grand-father was hugging a younger boy of perhaps 18 years old.  
“That’s your great great grand-father. A boy who will change your family’s luck forever and ever” Sebastian’s comment sounded like a curse.   
Another scene showed the father and the son with those other men in the basement. It looked as if several years had passed and not the young boy was a young man and he was sitting next to the leader. They were talking and apparently exchanging ideas, although the younger one was leading the whole discussion. After that, another scene where the 3rd great grand-father wasn’t there anymore and the group of men was gathered, although something was different.  
The doom was darker and barely illuminated with candles. There was also a big book and some parchments in the table, which had a big vessel on its center as well. They stood in their places while the 2nd great grand-father spoke some words and held a black pearl in his right hand, and a sand clock in his left one.  
“Interesting, right?”  
“Are they… summoning a demon?”  
“No… as you already know, those ostentatious rituals and ceremonies are not necessary to summon us. They are asking for something. An orison.  
“What are they asking for? Sebastian sighed and Susanna was pretty sure that he had an irreverent smile on his face.  
“What all humans want: power… but look closely, something is about to happen”  
And then the fire in the candles extinguished and the darkness filled the place, although the black pearl shone. There was a purple shine which turned exactly into seven rays of light.  
Seven sparks that hit each men in the chest as if they were burning. Their faces showed hurt and for a moment, howls of agony and pain were heard inside that basement. An impressing scene, not just because of the pain, but for the environment of the place; spooky and hot, while a black shadow flew around the men in pain.  
It was a feminine silhouette whose face could barely be seen, but his eyes were all black, no pupils, like a black balls only covered by the eyelids, and then it looked at Susanna, as if she was conscious of the witnesses in the scene. Her lips moved like she was trying to tell the girl something, but there was no sound.  
The girl felt her heart stopping for a moment as that evil glare pierced into her, and the movements on her lips were perfectly memorized by Susanna. A horrible sensation that didn’t compare at all with the first time she met Sebastian. It was ten time worse and more terrifying.   
“Enough of this images. Let’s go a little forward” Sebastian’s voice was firm. Evidently he noticed what happened.  
“What was that?”  
“A fallen angel. But we still have much more to see”  
They appeared on a different place. A garden filled with flowers and a table. A beautiful scenario behind a big and fancy house where a party was being held. A lot of people was there, but in the garden, two men walked: the 2nd great grand-father and a younger boy.  
“My great grand-father?”  
“That is correct. Listen to what they are saying, it’s important”  
Both men walked in the garden, approaching a small path surrounded by bushed that looked like walls.  
“What is it you want to tell me, father?”  
“You are not a child any more, and you should know certain things. Things about our family, the kind of knowledge that passes on with every generation. It is a secret that goes from father to son, and in the past few years, is more valuable than ever”  
“Are we going to talk about business? Really? Father, we are in the middle of my mother’s birthday party, can’t we leave this for later?”  
“It’s not about business” his voice was authoritarian and the boy immediately understood how important this thing should be “you are part of the Serafer family. We have a lot of history behind us. Sweden has always been our home and since you were a child, I’ve taught you to love it. I trust your studies in chemistry will be useful when the time comes”  
“They will, father”  
“Someday you will be the head of the Serafer family, and as such you will have to bear great responsibilities, not only as a family man. There is a secret that we treasure and that you shouldn’t trust to anyone else, not even the woman who one day will be your wife. You can only mention this to your son; your heir” the boy’s face looked gloomy as they kept walking “we are part of a group… a bunch of men who want to change the world”  
And then they met the other 6 men who were present during that scene at the basement.  
“I would like you to meet mister Janssens, Guillot, Schneider, Reznik, Crawford and Soler. Although you already knew some of them”  
“Good afternoon” the boy’s voice was trembling.  
“My son… these are my best friends, as I’ve already told you, but they are also my allies; my brothers with whom I will change the world. We’ll show you…”  
They all approached the boy and walked next to him as they told them about what they did in those meetings they had, but before that, they quoted:

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?  
— Nietzsche, The Gay Science  
“Nietzsche?”  
“That’s correct, boy” said one of the men “we’ve killed God, and not only us, but everyone around us. We have been blind for a long time; humanity has been. We are not the only creatures in this world, do you think those things you see are just your imagination?” the boys had a terrified look in his eyes “of course they aren’t. We all see them, and that’s because you have the gift. We all have a gift given to us by “one of them” Perhaps we are not strong enough yet. We humans are weak by nature, but inside us there is something the rest of the creatures don’t have, and that’s why this power was given to the seven of us”  
“Seven?”  
“That’s right, each of us have a different gift and we got it after many generations of research, so one day we’ll be able to redeem ourselves; to change history that has been stained in the name of God.,. a God that we killed long time ago, but that still exists and doesn’t care about us”  
“You mean that…”  
“It’s time to get free of those stupid rules. We now have the power and the allies we need” another man explained.  
After that the scene changed again. It was a dark night on the streets of an unknown city, a couple years after that meeting with the young great grand-father, who now was running very fast. He was desperately looking for an address. He carried a back pack filled with papers and in his hand he had the number 304 written down.  
That was the number of the house he broke in, without anyone seeing him. He went up the stairs, careful to not make any sound until he reached the main dormitory where his father was sleeping. He hesitated a little and with his shaking hand he took a knife from his jacked and stabbed the man on the bed.  
Drops of blood flew everywhere and a scream of pain could be heard, but not for long. The cuts were precise and direct to the main veins, so the man dies almost instantly, ad right before the servants could enter the room, the boy left the room by jumping from the window, running away to not come back anymore.  
It was a cruel scene; a son killing his father, and after that al scenes were as violent as that one; deaths and murders, intrigues, betrayals and more violence. The great grand-father’s family had been haunted and persecuted for many years. The tortures were cruel and Susanna felt dizzy as those images reached her eyes. It was a terrible past she already knew about, but looking at it with her own eyes was very, very different.  
She finally understood what was behind all that. Her ears buzzed and she felt nausea. Everything became blurry as the violent images appeared, infernal creatures, disturbing images and the worst of mankind was in front of her eyes, but right before losing consciousness she heard Sebastian’s voice.  
“Welcome to reality…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!  
> Well, I think this one was quite dense, but I love it. Also, my recommendation would be to listen “The truth” by The Calling while reading that part where Sebastian shows her those images. I actually wrote this part thinking about this song so I feel like it’s a complement for this fanfic, so if you have the time, check it out.  
> Also, that fragment from Nietzche is real. Quite interesting, by the way, but I adapted it to the story, so I cut some parts.  
> Please, feel free to leave any comments or suggestions.


	6. Comfort and confront

Chapter 6. Comfort and confront.  
With no apparent reason, Susanna fell down but Sebastian caught her before she hit the floor, and right before she fell unconscious, she pointed at the room’s window, right behind Ivan Reznik  
“Milady…” he looked at the window where a young man with blond hair and wearing glasses looked at his watch impatiently. He recognized him immediately and to avoid any conflict, he picked up the gun and carried the girl outside, back to the car. His priority was Susanna and the butler wouldn’t let anything else go wrong.  
Moments later, the guy with glasses entered the room and picked up the cinematic records with a lawnmower.   
“Ivan Reznik, born on November 15th 1965. Dead on, May the 4th of 2015. Cause of death: haemmorrhage caused by gunshot wound. Completed… hard to believe he didn’t die from STD!”  
The boy took a small notebook from his jacket pocket and reviewed his to-die list.  
“Great! Looks like it’s all for today… but I ought to inform my Supervisor that there’s a demon on the loose. Darn, I hope it doesn’t bring me overtime…” then he sighed and jumped through the window, not really caring too much about the demon’s identity or the girl who just killed those two people.  
By the next day in the morning, back at the Serafer’s residence, everyone was worried about Susanna, who hadn’t wake up yet. She was still in her room and Sebastian was taking care of her. He hadn’t take his eyes off her for an instant. His serious and confused look was rather unusual for him  
“Abby! Is she awaken yet?” a blond guy rushed down the stairs.  
“No, not yet, Fer… I think we should get a doctor but…”  
“What happened yesterday?” he approached Abby, who was leaning on the hall’s wall nearby Susanna’s bedroom.  
“I couldn’t sleep, so I went to the kitchen to get a glass of milk and then I heard the car parking on the entrance. A moment later, I saw Sebastian entering the house, carrying the young mistress…” her voice tone was cold and she looked straight into Fer’s eyes, showing the seriousness on the matter “they both had blood stains in their clothes, although neither of them were wounded”  
“Are you sure?” his stand changed and his brown eyes showed certain spark they didn’t have before.  
“Yes… I changed her clothes… you know she would never allow Sebastian, or any other man to do it. She is quite discreet” she tried to relax the tension with her comment and laughed a little “Sebastian told me to clean her up and put her pajamas on while he changed his clothes too. She wasn’t harm…”  
“But?” Fer detected that hesitation on Abby’s voice.  
“She had a small burn on her hand, as if she had touched live coal”   
“Or gunpowder…” that same spark from before showed again “it has begun…” after a small pause he raised his voice and punched the wall, showing his anger “what the hell is that arse-hole thinking? Sebastian is always showing off, pretending to be a great butler, but he can’t even properly protect her“ Fer punched the wall again and suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
“Easy, lad Sebastian knows what he’s doing and we should to trust him” Mr. Haggard calmed the younger man with his calm but firm voice “and if someday he fails to his duty I will be the first one to exchange a couple words with him”  
“Thomas is right, Fer. Besides, Sebastian has remained at her side since the moment she was in her bed. He is evidently worried, even though he tries not to show it”  
“That is correct… and he might need a rest. I’ll go and check on them. I shall ask you to remain calmed, especially you, Fer” Thomas voice was persuasive. He knew something about the young man, something that told him to keep him calmed.  
After that, Mr. Haggard walked towards Susanna’s room and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so he slowly opened it. Sebastian was sitting next to the bed. The curtains were barely opened, just to let some light in and give the place a little warmth. The girl was still unconscious, or in a very deep slumber.  
“She was in a lot of pain, so she is exhausted” the butler didn’t take his eyes off of her while Thomas approached him “still, that is not the reason why she’s still like… this….”  
“After what happened yesterday I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to wake up” Sebastian was surprised as he turned to see the other man, who had a serious look on his face “you should rest a little. I’ll take care of her”  
“There is something I need to investigate” the demon said after a pause. Apparently he had remembered something “I’ll be back in one hour. Meanwhile…”  
“Yes, yes… I won’t leave her side. Worry not, that is exactly what my family has been doing for decades. Now, go. There is something important you have to do”  
“Just one hour”  
After saying that, Sebastian hurried to leave the house, but not before telling Abby to contact him in case Susana woke up.  
Using his demonic speed, Sebastian ran towards the city with only one thought in his head: understand what those people haunting the Serafer family were hiding, and not only that. It was crucial to find out what kind of forces were involved. This time his master faced an entity that, having the right means, could become a huge problem.  
When he arrived to Ivan Reznik’s office, the building had been, coincidently, burned down. According to what he found out, it was a problem with the electric installations what caused such “accident”. How convenient…  
It looked like all evidence regarding Reznik’s connections were lost, but Sebastian managed to enter the building, or what was left of it. There was still some smoke coming out, as well as steam everywhere. Even the temperature was high. There was rubble all around and the stairs were falling apart, so he used his abilities to climb to the 5th floor, where the main office was supposed to be.  
There were some documents, but they were either burned or wet. Most of them were ashes but the demon gathered plenty of them and planned to decipher them so he carefully took the pieces as his eyes glowed in red, trying to read underneath the ashes and smeared ink. Some fragments were understandable, but some others were beyond repair, so the result was a confusing puzzle with names, places and terms in Latin, as well as the words “final linkage”, which appeared rather often but the real meaning was nowhere to be found. Everything pointed towards Schneider having more information about those plans, and more important, the means they would use to contact the fallen angel again.   
As soon as he gathered all the useful information, he put the papers in a safe place inside his jacket and headed back home, hoping to inform Susanna about his findings when she woke up.  
Exactly one hour after leaving the mansion, Sebastian entered the room, expecting to find everything as he left it. And so it was, except for Fer and Abby, who were there as well. Susanna seemed to be asleep, but she was now laying on her side beneath the sheets. It wouldn’t be long before she woke u.  
“Sebastian! It took you exactly one hour…” Thomas was surprised “seems like she is about to wake up”  
“Yes… she looks more relaxed than before…” the butler smiled “I believe it’s time to make preparations, as I suppose she will be hungry when she awakes”   
“I’ll take care of that! Come with me, Fer” Abby took the young man by the arm, as he glared at Sebastian.  
“Good. Thomas, could you do me a favor?...”

Some minutes later Susanna moved again, this time her gestures suggested that she would open her eyes son. After waking her up every day, Sebastian perfectly knew when she was about to do it, so he stood next to her, waiting for the right moment.  
Little by little she woke up and recognized her room with her eyes. She seemed confused and then she looked at Sebastian, siding her head as if she was about to ask something, but a terrible pain invaded her and she started to remember everything. She immediately put her hands in her head and tears fell from her eyes in a lament that was mute at first but soon turned into a howl of agony.  
“Calm down, Milady…” Sebastian approached her.  
“How?... how could I?... no, not like that!” she sat in the bed, still holding her head and crying so loud, screaming incomprehensible words.  
“Shh… it’s alright, Miss…” he sat in the bed and embraced her, trying to comfort her “It’s already done, you cannot change it”  
“And you enjoyed it! Get away from me, you damn bastard!” the girl tried to separate from him and she punched in the chest and arms, but it was useless.  
“Remember our contract… I’m only a tool for you to use and finish with them…”  
“I don’t regret anything, but I don’t know how could I do that. That’s not like me at all” she remained silent while she gathered her thoughts and dealt with the headache “and I would do it again… it’s just that I don’t know how…” in the end she didn’t have much choice but to give up and cry while her butler comforted her. Despite his intentions being only lead by the desire of having her soul, he was the only being who would be unconditionally with her until the very end; until the day of her doom.  
Besides, something on Sebastian’s embrace calmed her. Just like everything that was happening, she couldn’t explain it, but as he caressed her back, a huge relief invaded her, like tiny vibrations slowly taking over her and suddenly she was calm; filled with doubts, fears and insecurities, but not about to cry again. Perhaps she only needed to let it out with someone trustworthy, someone who knew what had happened.  
Some days passed by and Susanna didn’t want to touch the subject. The headache lasted for two days and Sebastian didn’t take it as a simple coincidence, so he investigated on his own and carefully observed the girl from the shadows.

Susanna walked around the garden, thinking about those fresh memories. She felt exhausted and without energy. Listening to the phrase “Deus est mortuus et nos occidimus eum” woke up something inside of her, something she didn’t want to remember and that brought nausea, aside of filling her body with adrenaline like never before. She needed time to accept the inevitable; this time everything was real and there was no escape. She thought she had already assimilated her situation, but it wasn’t true. In a matter of months she had gained and lost everything by her own will. The question was, how to move forward?  
Meanwhile, in the shinigami realm, the Supervisor of the Reaper Dispatch Society worked in his office. He had been in front of his desk for the past couple hours, reading and consulting old reports and taking notes about them.  
His expression was serious, as usual, but there was something different in him; a barely perceptible gesture that showed annoyance and aggravation. Since Ronald Knox returned from his last assignment, he asked for a complete report from another overseas branch, so he could know more about Susanna Serafer’s activities. She had been in the to-die list months before coming to England.  
William’s suspicions were true: Miss Serafer had done a contract with a demon. That was the reason why she avoided death the first time, and despite not regretting his decision of letting her live, he found the whole situation rather ironic. Aside of that, what was really making him angrier was the fact that certain demon was the one who made the contract with her. Such demon was Sebastian Michaelis, whom inevitable will cross paths with.  
As soon as he finished with his notes, he cleared his desk and headed to London, appearing almost immediately in a green garden, which had perfectly trimmed trees shaped in spirals. The flowers were about to bloom, but William didn’t have time to appreciate such things, so he focused on finding certain person. After walking a couple steps, he found her and hid behind one of the many trees in there, just to watch her for a few moments. She looked downcast as she walked around the garden, trying very hard to ignore an individual nearby, until it was impossible.  
“I know you are there. Is it already my time to die, William?” she looked at the sky.  
“I knew there was something different in you since moment I saw you; an unusual aura, but I never imagined it was caused by a contract with a demon… Susanna Serafer” the shinigami showed up, allowing her to see him and approaching her.  
“That is correct. I sold my soul thinking that it was a solution”  
“I will never understand how people could be so stupid to exchange their souls for a simple desire…” he adjusted his glasses.  
“We humans don’t understand the true value of things until we lost them, and the soul is not an exception. It’s like suddenly loosing hope“ she looked at the beautiful garden and felt a lump in her throat. Meanwhile, William studied her, looking for a sign of regret or at least some reaction, but she remained silent.  
“I’m not sure that you comprehend the reach of what you’ve done. Not to mention those two people you killed” he frowned and his irritation showed in his voice.  
“Said the death himself” her serene eyes were set on him,   
“Honestly… demons are vile creatures, vermins in the universe that feed on souls and whose intentions are always selfish. They trick and attract people with sweet words and promises, hiding their true intentions until they fall into darkness, where they show their true faces. A face they hide with great ability, for obvious reasons” there was a pause “you are just like a dewy-eyed girl, with absolutely no willpower”  
Susanna felt something burning inside her. She had enough problems already, dealing with her own tortuous thoughts, to listen to some uppity jerk. “Who does he think he is?” she thought… yes, he was a shinigami but it didn’t give him the right to judge or pretend to know her.  
“Shut up!” she yelled “you think you know a lot about humans, about how we feel but it’s plain to see that you don’t have the slightest idea about how we really are. You are not human, so don’t speak for us. Put yourself in my place for a moment! Imagine that one day your life is normal, and the next one your whole history, origins and context change without notice. That everything you believed is a lie… and all those things you never wanted to believe are true. After that, you are kidnapped, brutally beaten and humiliated, about to be raped and outraged, all because some reasons you barely understand... and death isn’t an option anymore because it’s not for you to decide” her eyes were filled with tears and William was so shocked he couldn’t say anything, but his eyes showed how unexpected her reaction was “… and in that moment you remember that offer… that possible escape and solution”   
There was a pause and she gathered strength so her voice didn’t break and tears didn’t interrupt her.  
“I know what I did is wrong, that is an atrocity and a huge sin, but if my sacrifice can end this haunt against my family and stop…” she wouldn’t reveal all she knew, so she chose her words “…things from getting worse, I’m willing to accept all the consequences. And listen carefully, I am responsible for my own choices and decisions, despite them being right or wrong. I will take the consequences, either you like it or not. I know that there are many things and lives in the way, and that is why I need to do this my way. I will take the blame and carry such burden”  
William remained silent, with Susanna’s words still lingering on his head. It was true, he wasn’t a human being and he didn’t know what kind of desperation she went through; he might have known of such things once, but that was long before turning into a shinigami. Remember or feeling again wasn’t an option, his work didn’t allow him that, and that’s how it was supposed to be. Despite reviewing such idea, day after day, it had been almost 200 years since the true meaning of it made sense.   
“I’m sorry for trouble you like that” he said, reckoning that perhaps it wasn’t the best moment to confront her “it wasn’t my intention” he made a little bow, with all the formality and etiquette characteristics in him, just that this time he was being sincere. Then, he started to walk away and before disappearing, he looked at the girl “I will only ask you that, while you are in charge, that scum doesn’t feed on another soul… I would hate working overtime because he couldn’t control himself”  
“You don’t have to worry about that. While our contract is valid, I won’t go after other souls. This one is enough for me and the only one I wish” Sebastian appeared behind them, with a serious and defensive gesture. He had witnessed the whole scene and he wasn’t happy at all.  
“I wondered if we would meet again, Sebastian Michaelis. It looks like destiny crossed our paths again. I shall go now. I’ll be seeing you around” and the shinigami disappeared.   
“Are you alright, Milady?” he looked concerned.  
“No, but that isn’t new… at least the headache disappeared”  
“I’m glad to hear that… do you want me to go after him?”  
“No… let him be” she looked towards the direction where William disappeared “we’ll see him again” Sebastian turned to look at her with displeasure and surprise. He noticed it wasn’t the first time William T Spears and Susanna met and, for some reason he didn’t fancy the idea..  
“I’ve been researching into something, Miss. And… now I think I understand what happened. Would you please come with me?”  
Susanna nodded and walked in front of him, heading towards the first floor’s library, where Sebastian had been studying some documents and consulting many books about different subjects, from psychology to metaphysics. The place looked messy, but there was something enjoyable in that chaos. She liked the smell of old books and dust all around them. Everything seemed to have a reason to be, and the butler was the only one who knew it. She sat in one of the black leather couches, waiting for him to start explaining.  
“We haven’t discussed the subject yet, but it’s important that you tell me exactly what happened with Ivan Reznik “ she glanced at him, trying to remain calm “I noticed there were moments of silence and pause between your dialogue, and it caught my attention that your pupils dilated, your speech changed, as well as your behavior, Miss. That led me to think that there was something else I couldn’t hear. Was Mr. Reznik a telepath?” the formality in his voice and rigid stance showed how serious the matter was.  
“Yes. It was like those words were inside my head. He mentioned something about a final linkage and power, a special power which, despite of acquiring it, I couldn’t use and then… then those words in Latin…”  
“Deus est mort…”  
“Shut up!” she covered her ears in a defensive way.  
“I apologize” he said after seeing the girl’s reaction, although his words were perfectly planned, looking to trigger something in her “I still don’t know what kind of plans they have, or what are they looking for by contacting that fallen angel, but Thomas helped me get some letters from your grandfather and I have reasons to think that each one of those men have something special; a piece, we might call it, that is necessary to bring the fallen angel to this realm, and that includes you”  
“You mean like a puzzle?” she stood up “then our clue is: a telepath, a linkage whose real meaning is still unknown, and a quote from Nietzsche”  
“That it correct, and if we could find out what kind of ability the others have, starting with you, we might have a change to discover what they are up to or at least what is needed to bring back the fallen angel. On the other hand, that headache of yours, at first I thought it was caused by that shinigami at the Crimsom Cherry, but then I thought different. Maybe it was caused by the reaction of your ability to Reznik’s. Or perhaps…” Sebastian stared at her, with his deep red eyes piercing hers, not blinking even once.  
“What?” she looked confused, as if she didn’t understand why her butler looked at her like that.  
“Interesting” he put his hand on his chin, reviewing the facts.  
“I don’t understand”  
“I thought you might have absorbed Reznik’s abilities… but apparently you didn’t”  
“Something definitely happened and we need to know what… let’s go to AstraZeneca’s corporate offices. I have a hunch that we might find something on my grandfather’s files”  
They left immediately. By then, it was already quite normal for the employees to see Susanna and Sebastian walking around the building. She liked to be around them, making presence and showing them that she cared for the company; she wasn’t willing to let the family legacy go to waste.  
When they arrived to the grandfather’s office, the girl looked around, picking a spot to start looking and then ordered Sebastian to start looking, although he seemed a little distracted.  
They spent the afternoon looking for information, among the old and dusty files. At that point, anything would be useful, so they put some photographs, letters and notes inside a box. Before leaving the place, Sebastian stopped in front of one of the paintings hanging in the wall.  
“If you like it so much, why don’t you take it?” Susanna smiled “you seem very interested in it every time we come here, so…”  
“Miss, I couldn’t… a simple butler like me” he said politely, keeping the butler façade, but deep down she took him by surprise.   
“Consider it as a token of my gratitude” she winked and left the office, but her voice was heard from outside “and don’t make me say it is an order” Sebastian got tensed up. Many of Susanna’s reactions and behaviors were still unexpected for him. But despite that, he sighed and took the painting with a little smile on his face “by de way… are you wearing cologne?... I thought that… someone like you wouldn’t need that” she asked as they walked through the halls.  
“It’s only natural for the butler of the Serafer family to use one of the finest essences. What kind of butler would I be if I couldn’t do something simple as that?” he said proudly as the elevator doors closed.  
“Well, it’s nice. I like it.”

The day was sunny at the Shinigami realm and the dispatch association saw its employees walking around with their death scythe in hand, heading to do their jobs. Some other shinigamis were quickly typing to finish their reports and no one seemed to have a break, except for a blonde guy wearing fashionable spectacles, who casually walked through the halls. He was carrying a folder with complete report from his last job and he headed to his boss’ office, enthusiastically greeting all the females on his way.  
“Hey, Angelique! You look so pretty today! Are we still up for dinner on Friday?”  
“Oh, Ronald! You never change. Of course, will you pick me up at 7?”  
“You got it. I’ll be finished with my work by that time” he said proudly.  
“Then I’ll see you on Friday” the girl said, walking on the opposite direction than him “by the way, Mr. Spears asked for you 10 minutes ago. You should hurry”  
“Blimey! Thanks, and see you on Friday” Ronald’s expression changed and a special glow in his eyes showed as he rushed towards the Supervisor’s office.  
When he arrived, he knocked on the door, waiting for his boss to let him in. He had never liked to visit William’s office because every time he as there, he would end up with overtime, which he hated more than anything. He closed the door behind him and approached the desk where his boss was waiting for him; he had just arrived from his brief visit to London.  
“Good afternoon, Sir! How are you? You look busy as al…” the boy said in a happy tone before being interrupted by his boss, whose voice showed his impatience towards his subordinate.  
“Ronald Knox… I trust that you brought the complete report. This time without errors”  
“Of course! Here it is” he left the folder on the desk “like I said, it’s the same demon from a couple years ago”  
“A couple years ago?” William looked surprised “is it possible that you didn’t mention him on last decade’s reports?  
“EH? No! Not at all” he said worried and trying not to mess up “I mean, is the same demon who caused problems well… around the 1800’s… wow! Time flies!” William glared at him for an instant, looking for something that would show Ronald was lying or hiding something. Then he took the report and started to read it.  
“We need to be careful, Mr. Knox. I want to be informed if you happen to meet that vermin during your next missions.  
“Understood… can I go now?”  
“Yes, yes, go ahead” he made a gesture with his hands, pointing the door.  
Ronald headed to the door, taking a last look at the office before leaving. It was the same boring place, with the same sober and net decoration from last century, so he thought his boss desperately needed a hobby or at least a little fun. He was about to leave the office when suddenly a figure with red hair and flamboyant clothing and shoes appeared, yelling with shrill voice,  
“Will! Oh, Will, dear! I’ve got what you asked for” he entered with something that looked like a library cart, holding a large pile of cinematic records.  
“Sutcliff sempai!”  
“Hello, Ronald. You aren’t making my dear Will angry again, are you?”  
“Oh no, not at all. I just came to deliver my report and…”  
“Mr. Knox” said the Supervisor with a persuasive voice “I thought you have some work to do and… Grell Sutcliff… did you bring all those cinematic records?”  
“Of course, Will. Each and every one written in the list you gave me” he approached the dark haired shinigami, trying to hug him, but failing in the end because William stood up to check the books “Oh, Will! I love it when you play hard to get”  
“Grell Sutcliff… please, behave yourself and continue with your duties. I still have a lot of work to do” he threatened the red haired with his eyes before sitting down again and continue working.  
“But… alright, Will. I’ll see you later” and before leaving, he winked and sent him a kiss with his hand.  
Then he walked towards his cubicle, but met Ronald in the way. He was leaning in one of the walls, with arms crossed and looking thoughtful.  
“So, he sent you for some cinematic records?”  
“I believe that’s not of your business”  
“Perhaps not, but I believe what is the boss’ reason for his research. When I came back from my last job, he asked me for a detailed report about it and I’m sure it has something to do with that raven demon,  
“Sebas-chan!” Grell’s face showed a big smile and he jumped as high as he could, but as soon as he recovered the composure, approached the blond guy “tell me all you know about it”  
Meanwhile, inside of his office, William started to examine the cinematic records brought by the red headed shinigami. There was something else aside of his usually serious gesture. Through all his years working as a reaper he learned to detect any sign of problems or possible alteration on the soul balance, and this time he knew something big was approaching. Besides, Susanna Serafer would be involved in all that mess and, that’s what gave him an uneasy feeling for many reasons, such as the last talk he had with her and the history of her last name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s notes:  
> Hi guys!  
> This was chapter 6 and everything is starting to make sense now, right? Or at least I hope I was able to catch your attention. There will be plenty of shinigami scenes in this fanfic, so look forward to it. Also… could you imagine Sebastian using perfume? Well I did, for practical purposes, mostly and you will see it as the story goes on ; ) so now the question is… what cologne do you think he is using? I do have something in mind for him, but I will tell you next week, so I’ll wait for your opinions ok?  
> Take care, and happy vacations, weekend or whatever!


	7. Attack

Chapter 7. Attack  
It was Thursday and the night was falling in London. The weather was getting cold, but what really froze the blood inside Susanna’s veins was the emergency call she received earlier. Something had happened at the central offices of AstraZeneca and, along with Sebastian, she headed there. He drove as fast as he could. Apparently it was a huge problem, but deep down, she was glad it was the central office and not the central labs, where all resources and researches were located.  
As soon as he got the call, she took a jacked and told the butler that they had to go there. It was retaliation for Reznick, without a doubt. The road towards the offices took around forty minutes but Sebastian managed to make it in twenty. A few blocks away they found some ambulances, police cars and fire trucks closing the streets, keeping outside people away and fighting against the flames in the tall building.  
Susana received the all earlier that afternoon. They said someone had activated a bob inside the central building, which caused a big explosion and the death of many people. As the minutes passed, the fire was controlled but everything was far from over.  
With great ability, Sebastian parked the car in one of the nearby alleys and with a consternated expression he spoke to the girl.  
“I’m afraid that… if we get nearby one of those police officers or detectives, they won’t leave you alone for the rest of the night, with all those interrogatories and paperwork” he was standing next to the door, opening it for the girl to come out.  
“We better go the other way around. It is possible that, whoever caused this is still nearby” she looked around. The street had many buildings and around the alley, curious eyes were gathering to see what happened.  
“There is a tall building next to the offices. We might get a better view from there…may I?” he made a gesture with his hand, as if he was asking for permission ad she looked at him, wondering what he meant “last time we went to a rooftop, your reaction wasn’t quite…”  
“Oh!” she remembered the Cherry Blossom “and if I recall correctly, you were enjoying yourself way too much…”  
“I can’t deny it” he smiled.  
“Alright. It isn’t like we have much choice” she frowned and let Sebastian carry he as she put her arms around his neck, just like last time, as he jumped along the tall buildings, gracefully “and don’t get any funny ideas”  
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that” he whispered softly, with a seductive voice, but when he heard her complain and felt a couple kicks on his ribs, he continued “I’m only joking”  
When they were on the rooftop Susanna approached the edge with precaution. She tried to find something abnormal, but everything was rather chaotic. There were firefighters and paramedics all over the place, running outside the building. The smell of smoke and the sound of the ambulances, despite it being distant, was hypnotic. Even with the cold night weather, the fire made it warmer. Apparently there were many injured and she didn’t even want to think about the deceased.   
Inside all that mess, nothing seemed out of place. It was a strange sensation that invaded Susanna, and she couldn’t help but to feel guilty. With a fire like that, all the clues regarding the attack would be missing and all the people down there looked shocked; none of them seemed suspicious.  
As for Sebastian, he looked at the whole scene with his demon eyes. His serious expression showed that something didn’t fit quite well, but he didn’t say anything about it.  
“As we thought, this is against me. They know I’m hunting them”  
“That is correct” he said coldly, like he wasn’t paying attention and then she looked at him with curiosity.  
“Do you see anything in particular?” an attitude like that in him could only mean that he saw something he was displeased with.  
“No, but there is something unusual in the weather”  
“What do you mean?”  
“It was getting cold and now there is warm air all around. I would dare to say that this is rather convenient for the flames to not extinguish. Besides, when we left the house, it was about to start raining. Now there is no humidity”  
“Do you think it has something to do with the bomb?”  
“I’m not sure yet… I would like to take a closer look” he looked at her, asking for permission and she nodded, putting her hands inside the jacked pickets, trying to keep them still regardless the nerves that invaded her, and almost immediately Sebastian jumped from the roof, looking for God knows what.  
Susanna remained motionless in front of the burning building. It was an incredible image, like taken out from a movie, not from the real life. She thought about the many changed she had gone through and something in the fire mesmerized her, losing her in all those thoughts, but behind the black smoke and flying ashes she could see some shadows moving, like small strings dancing around and next to them humanoid silhouettes that made her pale. Nevertheless, before getting more shocked, she sensed someone moving behind her.  
It was a presence she couldn’t describe so well. She thought the most adequate word was “cold”, but as crazy as it might be, the man behind her wasn’t cold at all. At least she didn’t consider him as such.  
“Working?” she asked with a serious but casual tone, trying to fade the discomfort inside her head.  
“Supervising” he drily answered.  
“Of course… and you decided to stop by and say hello, William?”  
“I wanted to apologize” his voice was firm and didn’t match the message behind his words, but his personality made him act like that; his character compelled him to present himself as an emotionless individual, but at the same time he was the perfect English gentleman, capable of reckoning his mistakes and representing integrity “the last time we spoke…”  
“You were a total jerk?” William’s shoulders tensed up after hearing her calling him that.  
“I didn’t… consider the factors that… motivated your acts, to put it in words. So… “  
“And no you consider them?” she looked at him and approached.  
“Let’s say that, now I have seen the bigger picture” he adjusted his glasses compulsively. He didn’t want to enter in details.  
“Apologize accepted” she laughed for herself “I didn’t think you were the kind of person who apologized”  
“It was the right thing to do” there was silence between them for an instant and he relaxed because it seemed like she wouldn’t speak of it again.  
“And what are you supervising?”  
“Certain shinigami…” he sounded annoyed “I’ve got the feeling he won’t do his job properly, considering… the situation”  
“The explosion you mean?” she couldn’t imagine what kind of mistakes a shinigami might do.  
“Not exactly” he glanced at her for and then turned to see the burning building.  
“I suppose you will have a lot of work after this” she thought about those dead people again, not know exactly how many of they were.  
“I certainly hope that is not the case. Honestly… I would hate to work overtime because something turned out wrong” he said as his eyes looked a specific point in the building, inquisitive.   
“Sebastian is investigating the cause of the explosion and he doesn’t…”  
“As crazy as it might sound, it is not that vermin I’m worried about”  
“So, it is those shadows in the distance?” she pointed at a broken window and for a second the William’s expression showed amazement after hearing what she just said. It wasn’t common, or more specifically, it was very rare that a human being could see a cinematic record when someone died. And still, he decided to explain what they were.  
“That, Susanna… is a cinematic record” he summoned his death scythe and held it tight, explaining with a voice that showed some pride and enthusiasm “it contains all memories from a person’s life; everything they lived is documented in there. And we, shinigamis take care or colleting and reaping them. Let’s say, cutting the movie in the exact moment of the death. It is very important to review those memories so we can determine if that person lives or dies”  
“But if you appear, is because someone has to die, isn’t it?”  
“That is, indeed correct. But there are special cases where a person can contribute something for humanity, and that is the only exception we make”  
“That is a great responsibility!” for the first time she thought his job couldn’t be that cool.  
“Yes, it is. On top of that, there is the fact that demons want to feed on those souls, so our duty is to avoid that at all costs. We have to collect every soul, otherwise the numbers wouldn’t match and the balance would be lost, not to mention the immense amount of overtime we would need to work and the paperwork to be filled”  
“The way you say it sounds… too casual to be about souls”  
“At this point, you should already know that things are way too different from common belief. Sometimes people make it sound way too… romantic” he said that last thing with a disgusted tone.  
“Touché…” she smiled and looked at William’s death scythe “and what is that?”  
“It is called death scythe. It’s a shinigami weapon and our most important tool. We cut the cinematic records with this. It is capable of cutting through anything.”  
“But William… those are gardening prunes….”  
“Oh, I assure you, these are way more lethal than that” his voice sounded indignant but before Susanna could say something else, a scream was heard in the distance. It was a voice that didn’t belong to any of the injured, nor paramedics or firefighters  
And from the building, right in the same place where the yell was heard, a black shadow jumped towards the rooftop where Susanna and William were talking. It was Sebastian, who approached as fast as he could, looking for his mistress and perhaps to run away from the individual who just yelled with a high pitch voice as well.  
“Sebas-chan!” the voice was heard again and a red silhouette appeared from behind the flames.  
“Honestly… this is what I was afraid of…” William’s voice sounded irritated as he looked at the scene from behind Susanna, making sure he wasn’t seen.  
“Sebas-chan! Where have you been? I’ve missed you all these years!”  
“I’m afraid the feeling is not mutual… Grell Sutcliff” Sebastian’s tone was serious as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
“Do you two know each other?” she looked confused. She had never seen that guy before, although it was evident that he knew her butler, and judging by the shinigami attitude, she didn’t even want to imagine under what circumstances; a chill ran through her back.  
“If we know each other, you ask?” the redhead said “We’ve been through a lot together! Isn’t it, Sebby? All those nights of wild passion…” Grell embraced himself.  
“Sorry, but our memories differ way too much” the demon seemed annoyed as his eyebrows moved in disapproval.  
“Wait, if you are here it means that…” Grell’s voice became serious and his eyes were fixed in Susanna, who looked at him with curiosity “you are the new contractor… how interesting” his eyes piercing hers, looking for something “I wonder if…” he extended his hand to touch her face as he walked towards the girl, who took as step back, and just before Sebastian could get between them, William’s death scythe struck Grell in the head “AHH!”  
While the redhead shinigami was suffering with the wound, the butler and the girl turned to look at William. She was surprised for his reactions and the demon saw him with certain displeasure.  
“Didn’t you have work to do?... Grell Sutcliff!” he approached them with steady steps and threatening attitude “and instead of that, you are lollygagging, running after this…” he looked at Sebastian “hell spectrum… such a disgrace for the shiniamis”  
“Will!” he looked at his boss with his eyes filled with illusion, ignoring half of the things he just said “you were checking on me because you were jealous, darling?”  
“Please, don’t say such nonsense. You have work to do” he looked at the burning building.  
“Talking about work, the hell spectrum has finished with his” Sebastian said with irony “Miss, I believe it’s time to go with the police inspector”  
“Let’s go, then” she walked to the other side of the rooftop, followed by her Butler “I guess I’ll see you around”  
“Good night” William said formally, with a small nod of his head and then glared at Sebastian, who took her in his arms to jump from the rooftop. His eyes lingered there for a while until he turned to see the other shinigami, who stood next to him “perhaps I wasn’t clear enough when I said you have some work to do” he took his death scythe, pointing at him.  
“Don’t worry, I’m done. You should be proud of me”  
“In that case, you should be writing the report. I need it I my desk in two hours”  
“Oh, Will, you are so harsh!... just how I like it” Grell hugged William, who walked away, ready to left for the shinigami realm “something big is happening, isn’t it?” the supervisor stopped as soon as he heard him “all those deaths, Sebastian and the Serafer girl can’t be coincidence”  
“We shall limit ourselves to do our job” as soon as the dark haired shinigami said that, he jumped off the building and disappeared, followed by Grell, who took a last glance at the building and the demon walking next to the girl”  
It was a long night for Susanna. Since the moment she tried to approach the police officers in charge of the explosion, a group of journalist and reporters went after her to ask questions about the company and the bomb. When she was named head of AstraZeneca, she received many requests for interviews. A change on a pharmaceutical company isn’t much of a big deal, but the changes and restructurings on the inside, along with the charitable activities and investigations, did. Especially after a bomb attack. A great headline for the next day’s newspapers!  
Thanks to Sebastian she had always managed to avoid meddlesome eyes, which had tried to get inside the house or ambush her outside the office multiple times, but in that moment, it would be way too difficult to avoid them, so the butler did his best escorting her towards the police barricade.  
That small walk of barely 30 meters felt like an eternity for the girl. She didn’t know what to say, so she remained silent as Sebastian walked with her with a protective attitude, like a bodyguard, repeating “no comments” every fifteen seconds. Nevertheless, something in his behavior showed that he was enjoying the situation. A couple minutes of fame couldn’t hurt anyone.  
The investigations followed its normal course, painfully slow and it wasn’t until 4 AM that Susanna could return home, but not before making at least ten declarations, speaking with many lawyers, insurance companies and arranging funerals for the people who died in the attack. Aside of that, looking at the count of damages and deaths because of the bomb caused her a huge impression. So far, collateral damages weren’t part of her thoughts.  
When she got home, the only thing she wanted to do was sleep and the butler’s attempts to make her eat anything or at least have a little supper were in vain.  
“I’m exhausted. Please cancel tomorrow’s lessons and…”  
“I’ve already done that, Miss. A few hours ago I got in contact with the teachers to cancel your lessons for two day” his voice was formal “would you like me to wake you up at midday so you can attend the funerals?”  
“Yes, please…but how,,,?”  
“What kind of Butler would I be if I couldn’t suit Milady’s needs? Besides… it’s a pleasure” he kindly smiled as he followed up the stairs her with his eyes.  
The next day was almost as exhausting as the day before. Susana was never fond of funerals and she couldn’t help but feeling guilty for all those dead people. Sadness showed in her face. There was something in the atmosphere of those events that made her uncomfortable, aside of bringing memories of sorrow and pain. The ceremony ended around 5 PM, and as fast as she could she asked Mr. Haggard to take her back home. Sebastian remained very quiet during the whole time. He hadn’t informed her yet about his findings, and truth to be told, he wasn’t so sure the information could be useful or not.  
He glanced at her from time to time, trying to read her expressions and body language, but she was absent, moving like a puppet; mechanically and wearing sadness in her eyes.  
As soon as they got home, Susanna locked herself in the studio, reviewing those papers they took from her grandfather’s office. Lucky for them, they had visited the office before it was destroyed, she was sure there was a clue in those photos and notes. The question was, what were they trying to destroy?  
She poured some whiskey in a glass from the bottle inside her desk as she read the papers again and again, not finding anything useful, but before she could get frustrated, someone knocked on the door.  
“May I come in, Miss?”  
“Go ahead, Sebastian”

“I’ve just been informed that one of the fire’s survivors is stable. It’s Mr. Lampard, who was I charge of the camera vigilance at the moment of the attack, and apparently he was the one who alerted security about suspicious behavior”  
“Very well, then we will visit him tomorrow morning” she didn’t look at him as saying that, but he still nodded, approaching the desk where she was standing, next to the chair. There was silence between them for an instant and Sebastian looked at the whiskey bottle and the serious expression in Susanna’s face and when she finally realized she as being observed, she said “did you find something in the building?”  
“As I said yesterday, there was something strange in the atmosphere. I’m truly sorry, but I could not gather tangible proof, only some kind of traces” he put his hand on his chin, thinking “like traces of magic, but that isn’t what caused the explosion”  
“According to the reports, it was a special kind of nitroglycerine, which raised suspicion but…“ her attitude changed immediately “what did you say? A trace of magic?”   
“That is correct, but it vanished a couple blocks away and I couldn’t follow it, but if it is what I’m thinking, it’s a very strong and powerful magic” his face darkened and looked threatening.   
“It’s obvious those guys are behind the attack, and I’m sure that if we find the source of that nitroglycerine, we will find them. Sebastian…”  
“Understood” he walked towards the door, with a serious attitude and before he left, she stopped him.  
“What do you think it is? I mean that magic”  
“It’s been centuries since I didn’t face something like that, capable of changing the weather, at least for a while”  
“Enough to stop it raining and to make it harder to extinguish the fire… there was something in the building!”  
“Most likely”  
“I’m sure it has something to do with these things we got…” she pointed at the papers and photos “hurry up and check the nitroglycerine thing. I must find something here” she sat and took a magnifying glass to check every part of the documents.  
Those people knew she was hunting them, and undoubtedly, they knew where to find her. Attacking AstraZeneca wasn’t only to destroy information; it was a message. They knew about her and for some reason, this time she wasn’t the target of their wrath.

Author’s notes:  
Hello everyone!  
Thanks for reading this chapter, filled with fire, bombs and raising many questions… I hope you liked it!


	8. the crimson cherry

The Crimsom Cherry  
That same night, Susanna went back home to rest. It was almost 11 PM and she was tired, so she only had some tea in her studio for dinner.  
“Here’s some green tea, brought from Osaka especially for you. Are you sure you don’t want to diner?”  
“No, thanks” she had a sip and remained thoughtful “Sebastian? You’ve never told me about how you came in contact with my family. Being a demon, I suppose you looked for someone willing to make a contract to… keep their soul… but why always the Serafer family?” the butler looked at her and smiled, trying to look kinds.  
“They called me. Your great grand-father and grand-father summoned me and I offered them the same thing as you.  
“Was there a special reason to remain with us?”  
“There is, but I’m afraid that is… confidential and difficult to explain”   
“But it has always been like this? Do you look for a reason for coming to the human world?” there was a pause and then she said to herself “I guess not even demons like to spend time in hell, surrounded by flames and…” Sebastian silently laughed when he heard her “did I say something funny?”  
“No, Miss. But hell isn’t how folk tales describe it and even though we are not surrounded by fire or torments, I must admit I do enjoy human world”  
“And before making contracts with my family, where were you?” she was curious about his past.  
“With another contractor. He was the one who gave me this name and I’ve kept it since then”  
“Then I suppose you were rather fond of this person” the expression in Sebastian’s eyes changed and showed himself lost in his thoughts, even a little vulnerable for a second. Susanna immediately knew she had touched a sensitive topic for the demon, if that’s even possible.  
“Let’s just say that I learnt a lot about humans with that contract” he turned to see her as he became more serious “you look tired, Miss. Perhaps it is time to go to sleep” and then he smiled; a fake smile to hide his inner thoughts.  
“Perhaps you’re right” she finished her tea and walked towards her room, remembering the change on Sebastian’s eyes. She had definitely discovered something new about him.

 

A couple days later, around midday, when business accounting class was about to finish…  
“..and then, based on the estimated numbers we got from the other analysis, we will compare them with real results and the difference, deficit or surplus, will be your opportunity areas in the company. I recommend you to…” suddenly the door opened and Sebastian appeared, causing the teacher look frustrated.  
“I’m sorry for interrupting… Mr. Ferguson… Milady, we just received some news about that investigation you asked me to do and I’m afraid such information is quite urgent…” his eyes were placed directly on her and spoke much more than his words could so Susanna immediately understood what it was all about,   
“I understand… Mr. Ferguson, excuse me but I’m afraid we will have to leave the class here for today. This is a special matter that requires my immediate attention. I’m really sorry”  
“I understand. We will continue tomorrow, but please, make that analysis and I expect a report for our next class” he said as he put the marker on the whiteboard and some papers on his briefcase.  
“Alright. Thank you very much. Sebastian, could you accompany him to his car while I make preparations?”  
“Understood. And please, read this documents I’ve got for you” he handed her a folder with some papers, photos and maps. Some minutes later, Sebastian came back and closed the door behind him, approaching the girl sitting in her desk chair.  
“Ivan Reznik”  
“Mr. Reznik’s name is Igor Rodich these days, for security reasons, that’s why it took me longer to find him, I apologize”  
“Apparently he has been rather busy on past weeks and he traffics with influences in different ports and customs… that sounds like smuggling”  
“That’s what it looks like. And for what I’ve gathered he is a assiduous client of the “distinguished” Crimson Cherries club”  
“Oh, is that a place you frequent?” she said sarcastically, enjoying Sebastian’s reaction.  
“I really hope you don’t think of me that way, Milady…” he acted as if he was offended, making her laugh.  
“Of course not, you are just like an angel!... and well, this place is a… seedy night club, I suppose”  
“It is a brothel”  
“Wonderful! Make preparations, Sebastian… we are going on a social visit tonight”  
“As you wish, Milady”  
Since 6 PM Sebastian and and Susanna followed Ivan Reznik around the city, starting with a visit to the London’s customs office, then his personal office and after that another stop on a fancy and famous restaurant where he would met some associates. They were very careful when following him in the car, but he didn’t have many bodyguards, just two and his driver.  
Ivan Reznik was a robust man, with little blond hair in his head and chubby face. The way his blue eyes looked at people was repulsive and they lingered around any girl who passed nearby. He smoked cigars most of the time and wore a blue, expensive and bad taste suit.  
The fat man entered the restaurant, along with his associates that were waiting for him at the entrance. Meanwhile Sebastian parked the car where he couldn’t see seem, but they had enough visibility of his movements.  
“Even without knowing about his true self, you can tell that he is a very despicable person. That bastard”  
“Good, that way you won’t feel remorse after murdering him” the girl’s blood froze after his comment and stared at the gun in her lap. She knew that destroying her family’s enemies and her plans were the same thing, and both things included killing those people but she avoided calling it murder, and that was exactly what he butler’s comment implied.  
Would she have second thoughts before pulling the trigger?... Sebastian was there in case she couldn’t, but the smallest hesitation could mean regret, or that she wasn’t ready for all that. Susanna’s face seemed worried and shocked. He was distracted with her own thoughts and the butler carefully studied her gestures. But when she noticed his eyes on her, she said.  
“I wouldn’t know unless I do it…” she remained silent for a while, looking at the restaurant even though she knew Reznik would be there at least two hours… two long hours she would have to spend with Sebastian, which presence was rather uncomfortable. Perhaps a little chat would ease the mood “you are rather good at stalking people. Have you done this before?”  
“Of course, what kind of Butler would I be if I weren’t capable of such things?” he had a wide smile on his face.  
“You say it as if it was the most normal thing in the world…” suddenly her voice tone changed, as if a swirl of feelings were fighting inside her to get out “tell me something, Sebastian… my soul will change with this thing I’m about to do. It will never be the same; it will deform. Do you mind it? I mean. Is that the way you want it?... Little by little, take away all the goodness and purity of my soul?!” she yelled at him and then there was silence and tension around them, again. She didn’t expect an answer and limited only to look through the window, waiting for Reznik to get out of the restaurant, until Sebastian spoke.  
“Pure, innocent, ruthless or as the purest evil; I find your soul exquisite in every form, because it’s yours. The essence of what might become and your only presence are what make you attractive for me, Milady” Sebastian sounded as serious as ever, a mix between sincerity and seduction worthy of a demon. His eyes glowing crimson and feline eyes staring at Susanna, who didn’t look back at him, perhaps for pride or fear. She wouldn’t find out.  
And so, between silence and random comments about the plan, two hours passed. The objective was to get information from Ivan Reznik. It was fundamental that they got an address or details about the other 5 men: Soler, Schneider, Crawford, Janssens and Guillot, so they could haunt them one by one and finish with all that mess. Aside of that, Sebastian warned her about the nature of the conflict, which might bring along the presence of strange creatures or extraordinary events, so they would have to be alert.   
When the fat man went finally out, he got into his card, alongside his driver and bodyguards.  
“At last, and to finish the night with glamour, a visit to the Crimsom Cherry… start the car, Sebastian.  
“Understood”  
The road towards the brothel lasted a couple minutes. The place didn’t hide its true nature, but it was located between many alleys in the old part of London, so the girl and the butler had to follow Reznik by foot, careful of not being discovered.   
The neon lights in the place could blind anyone and the shocking pink reflected in the nearby pounds would reveal anyone who approached the place.  
“Milady, I’m afraid that, if we keep walking this way they might see us. I suggest trying the roofs”  
“Alright, let’s look for a lather and… Whaaaah!” with exceptional and calculated movements, Sebastian carried her bridal style and jumped very high towards one of the rooftops. She didn’t have other option but to surround him with her arms and pray so she wouldn’t fall, which the butler found very funny and after a small laugh he said,  
“There is no need for such a thing. At this point, prayers are useless” as he graciously landed on a rooftop, almost kneeling to keep balance and bring the girl’s face closer to his “but feel free to keep your arms around my neck” a mischievous smile appeared on his face as she grumbled under her breath, defenseless against him.   
“The only thing that keeps me from putting a bullet in your chest, it that I intend to use all of them in Reznik…”  
“That, and your fear of heights…”  
“I would really appreciate you stop being so insolent” she held on tighter to him as he jumped around the rooftops until reaching the brothel, seemed just like a dark shadow in the dark and foggy night.  
When Sebastian finally put Susanna down on the floor, she glared at him. She would have definitely push him off that roof, it wouldn’t hurt him that much; after all he was a demon, right?  
“Alright, we need a way in” she looked around “there’s a door over there” they walked towards the door and tried to open it, but it was closer.  
“Allow me” the butler took the padlock and took as small key from his pocket. After easily molding it a little, it opened the door “go ahead”   
“Now, we only have to look for that bastard” the sound and vibrations of the music made it nearly impossible to listen anything else, and that could be used as an advantage when questioning Reznik.  
They went down one of the stairs. There were many rooms along two of the floors and the long halls had many doors, some of them closed and others were wide open. Luckily for them, there was no one near.  
“He shouldn’t be too far”  
“This way” Sebastian made a small signal so she would approach a black curtain separating one of the halls from a little balcony that lead to the club “if I might say, this is not an adequate place for you, Milady” he complained as soon as he saw a pair of exotic dancers performing in the poles by the dance floor, which was surrounded by tables where many men were drinking and smoking strange cigarettes, holding some girls possessively.   
“Nothing of this mess is adequate for me…” she looked around, careful of not being notices and then she found her objective “there he is!” she pointed  
“Yes, he is talking with that girl and… apparently they now have a deal... let’s see...” he turned his head as if he was trying to listen to what they said, despite the noise of the place “yes… they will go to the second floor and… it’s going to be 400 points for one hour, which includes…” he stopped talking before saying what the price “included”, and just when Susanna made a gesture for him to shut up, trying to hide her blush by laughing.  
“Let’s wait until they come here, then you’ll take care of the chauffer and the bodyguard. Reznik is mine”  
“Understood” they walked through the hall and avoided being seen by hiding in one of the empty rooms  
“Nice place to have a date….”  
“Indeed, would you like to know what those 400 pounds included?” he casually asked.  
“Tempting, but no…“ she tried to appear serious but then laughed “for God’s sake, Sebastian. Now it’s not the tie for your jokes” She looked around “are they there yet?”  
“Ivan Reznik and the girl are about to enter the room. The other two men are walking behind them, a couple meters away. Apparently they will guard the hall”  
“Excelent. Get rid of them and don’t make any noise”  
“As you wish, but before I leave, take this” he gave her the key he had o his pocked “it might be useful”  
And then he left the room and ran to the second floor, where the two guards were lighting their cigarettes. Casually walking, with an evil grin and glare he approached them. He had a couple of silver knives on his right hand which contrasted with his white gloves.  
“And who the bloody hell are you? Get out of here!”  
“I’m sorry, but I must fulfill my orders”  
“What the hell…?” one of the men said, but he couldn’t even take out his gun because one of the knives sank on his forehead and skull. The same happened with the other guy, who jumped tried to tackle Sebastian, but the butler was faster and as soon as they fell into the floor, he put them inside one of the empty rooms, retrieved the knives and cleaned them. After that, he broke the lock so they couldn’t be found after a long time.  
As for Susanna, she proceeded with caution and took out the gun from her belt and got ready to enter the room. She had never done something like that; perhaps a couple visits to the gotcha or videogames, but using real guns was way different. All that tension and risks were too much.  
Then she used Sebastian’s key and opened the room. At first she only moved the door a little, expecting someone to complain, but nothing… then she heard some whispers from a female and a male voice. Apparently they were just talking, which was a big relieve for Susanna, who wasn’t in the mood to find a sex scene.  
By the time door was completely open, she managed to gather all her bravery but still her hands were shaking when she pointed at the couple next to the table, inhaling some kind of drug.  
“Don’t even think about moving!” she hesitated a little, but it was enough to scare the prostitute, who yelled and put her hands on her face.  
“What do you want, bitch? Dave! Nick!... get rid of this scum!. Do you think you can scare me with that little gun of yours, babe?” his voice was repulsive “so?... or is it that you also want to have a good time with me?” he stood up and approached her with a threatening attitude.  
In a matter of instants, Susanna woke up; some kind of flash back and a hunch that made her react on a violent and effective way, as if she knew exactly what to do. In that moment, the anger moved her; it was a rage accumulated by multiple generations and that made her act, or perhaps it was the adrenaline.   
“Igor Rodich… or should I say Ivan Reznik”  
“Do you want me to be scared because you know my real name?”  
“No, I will take care of that later on. Don’t you dare to move” her voice was serious and her eyes were filled with anger “go ahead and sit next to your date”  
“And what if I don’t want to?”  
“I can make you” her patience was finished and she shot him in one foot. It was the first time she shot against an actual persona. The adrenaline invaded her and she felt something else after seeing him hurt like that, screaming in pain as the prostitute cried hysterically “I said don’t move”  
“Bloody bitch!”  
“Do you want another one?... hurry and sit on the chair… and you, don’t you even dare to move”  
“Who are you?”  
“I don’t see the reason to tell you who I am, but I’m willing to tell you if you answer some questions” she smiled a little… that strange feeling she had a couple moments before was a sick pleasure of seeing him in pain and the frightened look in his eyes. Susanna Serafer had awoken to something else… and Sebastian, who was observing the scene from the door was pleased. The closed the door behind him after entering the room.  
“Tie them up”  
“As you say” the Butler approached them and the kept pointing her gun to the fat man, this time there was no hesitation or fear, and she had all the intention to use all of her bullets to get what she wanted.  
“I see you’ve been busy, Ivan. It’s good to make good use of your time. All those contacts in customs and ports… your father would be proud” Sebastian soot next to the injured man.   
“But… who are you?” he was shocked, he didn’t expect someone to tell him such things.  
“Who am I?... think you can guess it… tell me, where are the others?” there was silence and she looked at Sebastian, nodding with her head, a signal for him to beat him “we can help you remember. Are you related to the names Soler, Schneider, Guillot, Crawford and Janssens?”  
“It cannot be!” he suddenly started to laugh “I never thought this day would come… perhaps I won’t be the one finishing you or taking back that thing your predecessors took away from us, but I assure you someone else will. You don’t have the slightest idea of what you are getting into, starting by the fact that Janssens-Guillot is only one person”  
“And where are them?” it was true, she didn’t know they were the same person, but she gathered information little by little.  
“Do you think I will tell you?”  
“Do you want a fast death? Speak. If you want to die slowly and painfully, you can keep quiet”  
“You don’t have the slightest idea of what this is… HE will come after you and then the final linkage will be closer than ever” Ivan didn’t speak at all, but his word sounded loud and clear inside of Susanna’s head and she looked confused “now you see?... this more than you could ever control, you bloody bitch” after he said that, Sebastian grabbed him from the neck, sinking his nails into his skin, making painful little cuts  
“HE… then there are other 5?… ¡the fallen angel!”  
“That’s… right” he barely aid “it’s just a matter of combining the elements… but even if you think you will win… you are just making it easier”  
“Where is Soler?! Or Schneider?” she shot him again, this time on the ribs “answer!” screams or pain filled the room.  
“Schneider… the… docks…”  
“Perfect. That’s all I need”   
“Your signing your death sentence … and even with our powers, you won’t be able to use them” he spoke again with telepathy “Deus est mortuum et nos occidimus eum” after hearing that, all memories from her kidnapping appeared on Susanna’s mind, so her eyes opened widely as they filled with tears. She took two steps away from him and shoot him in the face and head multiple times, deforming him completely. After that she turned to look at Sebastian, whose hands were stained with blood and lanced at her, very serious “we are done here…” her voice was barely heard as she left the corpse behind her. Then she looked at the terrified prostitute next to the table “I don’t want any witnesses….” Without hesitation she shot her in the head to kill the poor girl.   
It was like Susanna wasn’t he usual self. That attitude had been suddenly unleashed and her aggressive self only found an exit with that gun and the running blood.  
The scene left Sebastian speechless for an instant, not because of what she did; the change in her was radical, but before considering all that, he noticed a cold air around the room and .the girl yelled n pain as she grabbed her head, as if something was piercing her skull.   
“Ah!”  
“Milady! Are you alright?” the butler rushed to catch her before she fell down. She was about to pass out and let the gun fall in the floor.  
“Sebastian…” and she pointed at the hotel’s window “it’s one of…. Those guys… “and she fell unconscious”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author notes: well, there it is, the first action scene. I hope you liked it! I hope it wasn’t too violent… because it will get worse lol. Just kidding, but it will get more interesting! Look forward to it!Author notes: well, there it is, the first action scene. I hope you liked it! I hope it wasn’t too violent… because it will get worse lol. Just kidding, but it will get more interesting! Look forward to it!


	9. Party night

Some hours later, Susanna woke up and the first thing she noticed was Sebastian not being by her side. She was still under the influence of the tranquilizer, so she managed to go downstairs, to the kitchen by grabbing the walls and the stairs’ handrail. In there, Abby was waiting for her with a place full of cookies.  
“Miss Susanna! It’s great to see you awake. How are you feeling?  
“I feel…weird, lost and confused… what happened?” she sat in one of the chairs next to the kitchen counter  
“Well…” Abby was reluctant to answer the question “it looks like you had a really bad panic attack. Fer and Sebastian had to give you a tranquilizer”  
“Wow, that bad? I don’t remember anything, just that I was in the studio and… then I was in my room, but I remember hearing something scary” she felt a little ashamed and her eyes showed anguish when they looked at the maid.  
“I didn’t see it, but I heard your screams and I worried a lot” she remember what Fer said and his distrust attitude towards Sebastian, so she tried to change the subject “aren’t you hungry, Milady? You didn’t eat anything today, so I figured you might want some cookies. I baked these ones you like so much”  
“Thank you” Susana widely smiled; she was indeed, hungry and some cookies with milk were just what she needed. As she ate, Abby was relieved to see her normal-self back and then she made a comment that took the other girl by surprise.  
“I know it’s had to figure out what’s inside Sebastian’s mind but… he was very worried” she explained, thinking that perhaps the butler’s attitude, always formal and immutable, may be misunderstood, as it happened with Fer. And she didn’t want the same thing to happen with Susanna “he might seem serious and sometimes even cold, but he was clearly affected by what happened and he was beside you the whole day, making sure nothing else happened to you”  
“He… really?” for an instant, she was moved; the idea and concept she was regarding her butler was that one of his true demon nature and the fact that he worried about her made her happy… but the idea of him being worried only for his dinner lingered.  
“Yes” a huge smile appeared on the other girl’s face “he just went out to the garden a few minutes ago”  
Like he always did, Sebastian went out to the garden during the afternoons, right after the sun set, to make sure everything was in order with the security system and cameras. He also looked for suspicious individuals or anyone who could compromise the house’s security.  
The inspection took him around half an hour and when he was done, he walked back to the house but he stopped next to the pond in the back of the house and smiled to himself, with playful eyes looking at the bushed.  
“I know you’ve been watching us. Perhaps she’s not aware of it all the time, but your presence is not unobserved for me, Mr. Spears”  
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, although I didn’t have the slightest intention of speaking to a blithering creature like you…” he started to say with a monotonous voice but Sebastian interrupted him.  
“What was you intention, then? If I may say, during the time we’ve met, I’ve never feed on a soul that didn’t have a contract with me. Or perhaps is my Lady Susanna you are watching?” the shinigami adjusted his glasses as soon as he heard the demon’s words. It was true, the girl intrigued him and a situation such as that was rather refreshing after many years of repetitious and hard work. He didn’t meet such peculiar individuals on daily basis and anything could be expected from those who made contracts with demons. Nevertheless, that wasn’t the only reason he watched them.  
“If I recall correctly, last time we met, your contract with Ciel Phantomhive caused numerous deaths, which means more work for us. Hence I am obligated to do some research on the matter; see if this time will be the same”  
“Of course. I couldn’t imagine the Supervisor of the Reaper Dispatch Society watching a human for reasons that are not part of his work” Sebastian’s tone was sarcastic, but he seemed as polite as always. As for William, he remained calm and expressionless.   
“Honestly, demon… you make thing sound more complicated than they are, just for your convenience” he turned around and walked away “farewell” and before leaving the house he was sure the demon said something like “am I?”  
Sebastian continued walking towards the house, looking at his watch and hurrying to start with dinner preparations.  
The next day, the butler entered Susanna’s room wearing a big grin on his face. He was about to wake her up and give her some good news; he spent the night before researching on chemistry books, looking for information about the nitroglycerine samples he got. And when he found out more about it, it was easier for him to track down Kraig Schneider.  
He approached the bed after entering the room. The girl was still sleeping and with a slow movement he touched her shoulder and whispered.  
“It’s time to wake up, Miss”  
“No… just 10 more minutes” she turned around, facing the other side of the bed.  
“It’s such a shame you don’t want to wake up… I have new information regarding Mr. Schneider’s whereabouts…” his expression showed some disappointment, knowing exactly her reaction.  
“What are you saying?” she sat on the bed “what did you find out?”  
“Apparently, one of his business partners, Alphonse Turner is a great friend of the Minister of State for Trade and Investment.  
“What? You mean a Minister is involved?... wow, I thought those things only happened in my country.   
“You would be surprised if you saw how many things are the same around the world” he smiled and watched Susanna as she stood up and chose her outfit.  
“We should investigate them; that could give us another clue about where Schneider might be”  
“Indeed. Tonight there will be a party for the anniversary of the UKTI; the Trade and Investment Office, and the Minister will have a fancy celebration with important businessmen.   
“Great! We should infiltrate and…” she entered the closet to put on the bathrobe and then entered the bathroom, saying “at what time is this party?”  
“Tonight, starting at 7… I’ll prepare the bath” he approached the girl and made sure the water temperature in the shower was ideal “so you still have plenty of time”  
“Good. We could get in from the roof, or we could pretend we…”  
“That won’t be necessary” she looked at him with curiosity, siding her head “as one of the leaders of AstraZeeca, you have a personal invitation to such events”  
“Oh, right… I forgot about it” she felt a little ashamed; that kind of things weren’t on her mind most of the time.  
“We should get you a proper attire for the evening. Last time we were shopping, we only got some suits and clothes for the office. I’ll let Thomas know that we are going out and after breakfast we shall go to the mall” she nodded and started to undo the bathrobe’s knot, but before taking it off she looked at the butler, who was still standing next to the shower, fixing the towels and discreetly looking at her.  
“Do you mind?” she looked at him and then at the door.  
“I’m sorry, I thought you might need some help…” Susanna raised a brow in disapproval “maybe the Diazepam’s effects were still…” the girl glared at him “I’ll wait for you in the dining room” he had a flirtatious smile when he left the bathroom.   
And so it was, after breakfast they left for the mall, to look for an elegant night dress. Shopping wasn’t one of Susanna’s favorite activities, but that changed since Sebastian came to her life; the butler always made sure the experience was entertaining for her. He always argued with the store employees about the fabric’s quality, colors and waistline.  
She wasn’t sure if he made that on purpose, but she had fun looking at him annoyed and complaining with the store managers, losing his patience and considering the famous brands as epitomes of bath taste. After that, he would always talk with Susanna, commenting something like “this is why I prefer your clothes being tailor-made. The designer’s ideas and clothes are terrible nowadays”. Aside of that, he was always aware of the girl’s needs, to the point she started to think he might be reading her mind. If she was thirsty, Sebastian would approach with a bottle of water; if she was hungry, the next stop would be a restaurant and if she was tired, a chair would appear right behind her, along with Sebastian ready to offer her ice cream or chocolates and a comment that would make her laugh.  
With a butler such as that, shopping was after all, an enjoyable experience and of course… the fact that every time she tried on a new dress, Sebastian’s intense gaze traveled around her figure, softly caressing her with the eyes, didn’t have anything to do with it… no…  
When they finally found something she liked, and elegant enough for the party, they went back to the house, right before lunch time and two hours before the stylist arrived.  
“Milady, I’ve made an appointment with a professional stylist to take care of you makeup and hair. In the meantime, I’ll make some final arrangements to your dress” said the butler before opening the door for the young woman who would take care of Susanna’s looks.  
When the makeup and hair were doe, Susanna waited patiently for Sebastian to come back with her dress. She was sitting in a chair in front of the mirror, looking at herself, very happy about her new looks. She didn’t wear much makeup, and this was a nice change. A little while after that, the demon knocked on the door and entered, handing her the dress.  
“I hope you like the improvements I made, but if you find something you don’t like, don’t hesitate on telling me, we are still on time to fix it”  
“Thank you, Sebastian. I’m going to put it on right now” she smiled, pleased with his excellent job. Nothing escaped him, not even the smallest detail  
“Of course. Let me know if you need any help” he put the cloth in the bed and before leaving the room he looked at her “I’m sorry I didn’t personally take care of your hair and makeup, but if I may say it, you look dazzling”  
“Tha… thank you…” that caught her off guard, but the butler left the room before she could say anything else.  
Susan put on the dress, anxious to see the arrangements Sebastian had done. She loved it since the moment she saw it at the store and she couldn’t wait to see how it looked on her.  
It was a beautiful admiral blue dress, with one of the shoulders uncovered and that let see the right leg as she walked, although if she recalled correctly, the opening on the lag was a Little more discreet when she tried it at the store. It was long, adequate for the night and there were some shiny stones on the right side. Sebastian had managed to adjust it to her body, even without taking measurements, so now it fitted perfectly, making her figure look more appealing. Nevertheless, there was a small detail: the zipper. It was impossible to close it without help.  
“How convenient…” she sighed and made a pause before calling the demon “Sebastian, I know you have something to do with this zipper!”  
A couple seconds later, the butler entered the room, now dressed according to the occasion; he was completely in black, with a tailor-made suit, a silk and slim necktie and the jacket closed y one lone button. He didn’t have a vest, but he still looked very elegant.   
“Do you need some help with the zipper, Milady?” he approached her with steady steps, but she saw him moving in slow motion as she admired his attire, which looked great on him. The black color contrasted with his red eyes and his pale skin. He looked more handsome than usual and he stood right behind her and with a delicate movement he pulled the zipper up, as one of his fingers traced Susanna’s back, barely touching her.  
When he finished, he stood up in front of her, looking straight in the eyes and pulled her hair for an instant; just the necessary to surround her neck with a stole that matched the dress’ color and then he softly said.  
“We don’t want anyone to see the mark of our contract” he wasn’t so close to her but she could still feel his breath touching her ski as he spoke.  
“Of course…” was the only thing she managed to say.  
“Do you like the dress?” he kindly smiled.  
“It’s truly beautiful” she looked at the mirror once again, quite pleased with what she saw.  
“As expected, it looks great on you“ as he took a pair of leather gloves out of his pocket and put them on to hide the mark on his hand “let’s review the plan  
”When we arrive, you enter the party with me. We have to make sure there aren’t any undesirable individuals”  
“Yes, but worry not. If your life as in danger, I would know it immediately. It’s part of the contract. After that, I’ll sneak out to the parking lot and get the keys from the valet parking. Then I’ll look for Mr. Turner’s and the Minister’s cars”  
“That’s right. The GPS should have all the information about the places they visit. Then, I want you to check those places and look for something suspicious”  
“Understood, Milady. Shall we go?” he walked right behind her, heading to the garage “and by the way, I packed some of your casual clothes in case something happens. They are in the trunk”  
Sebastian drove the luxurious car to the party. It was held on a three floor building, an exclusive place in London where many events were held. This time is would be the anniversary of the UKTI. There were plenty of cars at the entrance, waiting for the valet parking to pick up the keys and park them and inside of them, politicians, businessmen and English entrepreneurs.  
The butler got off the car and opened the door for Susanna, who took his hand and then his arm to head towards the event. Many inquisitive eyes were on her, some of them recognizing the girl as the new head of AstraZeneca and some other just curious about her.  
“I’ll walk around for a little. Sebastian, please get me a whiskey in the rocks, and while you are at it, check if there’s someone suspicious.  
“Yes, Milady” he walked towards the bar, examining everyone in the place. They seemed to be very occupied socializing or doing lobby activities. As soon as he had the glass in his hands, he returned with her “here…I didn’t find anyone suspicious, just a couple of men interested in you”  
“Oh, well then I should start socializing with them” as she widely smiled.  
“I would recommend you to keep a low profile. We want your presence to be noticed, but not to raise any suspicion”  
“OK…” she took a sip from her glass, looking around her “looks like this is going to be a boring party”  
“Just like any other of these type of events. You should get used to it”  
“I don’t have much choice” she sighed and they talked for a while, until most of the guest arrived, including some Ministers of the government “it’s time, Sebastian. Leave the car in here, in case they notice something odd is happening”  
“Understood. Shall I see you here once I’m done?”  
“I’ll be waiting for you here” she made a gesture for Sebastian to give her the valet parking ticked and smiled “good luck”  
“Thank you, Miss”  
And the she followed him with her eyes as he disappeared among the crowd and the exit. Then she decided to take another walk around the place and greet some of the people she knew from the office meetings and business partners.  
After a while, Susanna approached the bar, ready to spend the rest of the evening getting drunk, avoiding boredom from the shallow party. Perhaps she would walk around the place from time to time so people still knew she was still there, but she would eventually got back for a refill on her glass, just like she was doing I that very moment.  
She leaned on the counter and looked around, and a small group of people picked her attention. They were next to the window, about 10 meters away from her. They were four girls talking and flirting with a guy that didn’t seem older than thirty. She had seen him before, but didn’t remember where. The young man was wearing an elegant black suit, with a vest and matching necktie. All according to the occasion, although the tie knot was little loose. Susanna continued looking at them, as discreetly as she could, and she noticed he had part of his blond hair dyed black. He wore modern and fashion glasses, and behind them a pair of expressive shinigami eyes made him look more interesting. Now she knew, he was the same reaper who took Ivan Reznik’s soul and his presence could only mean one thing: someone would die in the party.  
Suddenly, the lad noticed Susanna staring at him and he excused himself with the group of girls, approaching the blue dressed woman who tried so hard to avoid visual contact.  
“Hey, I know you” he said with a smile on his face, taking one of the glasses of champagne from the bar.  
“Any business with Ivan Reznik?”   
“That guy! So, you know who I am?” his grin was bigger and he seemed excited.  
“You are a shinigami” Susanna whispered and with precaution, she didn’t know the guy’s intentions.  
“I’m Ronald Knox” he extended his hand to shake hers “and you are Susana Serafer, right?”  
“That’s right…” she took his hand and felt some kind of fear after realizing he knew who she was.  
“Don’t worry, I’m not here for you. Actually, I still have about half an hour left before I collect the soul I came for, but I wanted to take this opportunity to enjoy the party” he drank a sip from his glass “it’s not every day that you get to go to one of these events, you know?”   
“You know what? I’m so relieved to hear that… I’m not ready to leave this world just yet. I still have some pending issues” she giggled.  
“So I’ve heard… but don’t worry, your name is not on the to-die list. At least not for the next two weeks” he said cheerfully, but she showed a worried expression “sorry, I don’t mean to scare you. Look, I’ll tell you a secret” he got a little closer to her “to be honest with you, your name was taken out from the list a couple weeks ago, by the Supervisor of the Reaper Dispatch Society himself, so you don’t have nothing to worry about… well, at least don’t worry about dying any time soon. The chief’s decisions are the law” Ronald winked with his right eye and then Susann remembered that first talk she had with a shinigami.  
“William T. Spears?”  
“That’s right, but don’t repeat his name” he left the empty glass son the counter “they say that, if you repeat his name three times, he appears right behind you, and I don’t want to get a bollocking or work overtime”  
“I can imagine it’s not really easy to have him as boss” she relaxed at last; it looked like this shinigami wasn’t anything like William or Grell “besides, looks like you are having a good time here” Susanna looked at the group of girls who Ronald was speaking to a while ago, whispering as they looked at them talking.

“I really can’t complain. They didn’t have anyone else to send; the other candidate wasn’t willing to abandon his task of following…” he made a pause “someone, for anything in the world. And despite the complaining of my boss, they ended up sending me here. Although, I honestly thought this party would be much different” he looked around.  
“Same here… if it continues like this, you will have to collect more souls from people who died from boredom” she commented sarcastically.  
“That’s a good one!” he laughed and took another glass of champagne “hey, why don’t you come with me?”  
“Do you want to take my soul? Or do you want me to go with you and reap that poor person’s one?” she joked as she drank another sip of her whiskey,  
“No, no! I wouldn’t dare to take someone who’s not on the to-die list. Do you have any idea of how much paperwork and overtime I would have to do if I did something like that?” he said as if it was something casual “I have another three souls to collect in two hours” he looked at his watch “well, almost three, and it’s in an electronic music concert, so what do you say? Do you want to tag along?”  
“Really?” Ronald nodded and smiled, anxious for her answer “alright, sounds like a plan! We could use my car”  
“Wicked!... then I’ll see you in the lobby in….”he looked at his watch “fifteen minutes”  
“You got it! I’ll see you there” and he walked away after she said that. He went to some stairs in the back of the room and disappeared.   
Exactly fifteen minutes after, Ronald walked down the party venue’s main stairs, with one of his hands inside of the pocket and a big smile on his face.  
“Ready when you are, miss”  
They left the party and when they were inside the car, Susanna looked at her purse, where her cellphone was, doubtful about contacting Sebastian and letting him know she would go to the concert, but in the end she didn’t. She had been longing to have fun for a long time; breaking the rules and party all night like in the old times, and this was a perfect opportunity for it, even if it was at the expense of her butler; nothing he couldn’t manage. And then, right before turning the car on, she raised the volume of the stereo.  
“Timber by Ke$ha! That’s a great song!”  
“To start getting tuned up”  
“And to make things even better, I’ve got a little something! he took out a tequila bottle out of his jacket.  
“I believe we will get along very well, Ronald” she had a huge smile on her face and drove towards the site of the concert, following his instructions.  
When they arrived to the concert, they parked the car on the first available spot they found. The parking lot was filled with cars and there were tents in the distance, like a camp. Apparently, the concert would last more than one day. As soon as they got off the car, the music roared in their ears, but the volume wasn’t high enough because they were still far away.  
“I need a place to change my clothes” she opened the trunk, grabbing the clothes Sebastian had packed for her.  
“Oh… how about there?” he pointed at a dark spot whit many bushes.  
“Perfect. Just let me know if someone comes near” she immediately thought that it would have been a better idea to change at the party, but even this was part of the adventure of fleeing the party with a total stranger. It had been a long time since she did that kind of stuff; the type of crazy things whose consequences weren’t too transcendent, and she couldn’t care less about them.   
Lucky for her, she didn’t have much trouble pulling down the zipper. It looked like the hard part was to put the dress on, rather than taking it off. How convenient…  
After changing clothes and putting the dress in the trunk they walked towards the concert. This time she didn’t wear a stole or a scarf to cover the mark on her neck. Good thing it could pass as a tattoo.  
“Is that the demon’s mark?” Ronald asked, very intrigued to see it. It was the first time he saw one of them.  
“It sound even worse if you say it like that… but yes it’s the seal.  
“Wow! And you chose where to put it?” the girl nodded, looking at his enthusiastic expression “it looks like one of those tattoos that glow in the dark. And with that design, you could even say it’s goth”  
“I know, right?!... let’s just hope no one knows about occult stuff, or I will have to make u some excuse…”  
With each step, aside of feeling the alcohol working on them, the music sounded harder. At the entrance, they had to bribe the guard so they could enter without a ticket, but once inside, the crow’s energy could be felt, even in the skin. The stage was decorated with elaborated fantasy ornaments,  
“We should get rid of this” Ronald drank from the tequila bottle, which didn’t have much left “do you want the last of it?”  
“Sure” she grabbed the bottle and drank until it was over “damn!... let’s go!”  
“Stay by my side, ok? I’ll look for you if you get lost, anyways” she gave him a doubtful glance; how could he see her if she got lost in such a big crowd? ”these shinigami eyes allow us to see better than the human eye” he winked and approached the crowd.  
The music filled their ears and their clothes moved with the sound waves coming from the stage. Even the ground seemed to move a little and the atmosphere was filled with euphoria and happiness. The place was filled with people, lots of them and everyone jumped with their arms in the air to the beat the DJ played. Many of them yelled in excitement, some others sang along and others moved their heads rhythmically.   
It was the first time Susanna went to one of those events and, compared to other types of concerts, the atmosphere was very different. The place seemed to irradiate energy and the lights in the stage were beautiful in the night. Dancers with neon clothing moved and danced next to the DJ and beach balls jumped above the crowd, taken by the wave of hands moving with the music; they were even throwing bras and inflated condoms.  
“Reload! I love this song!” Susanna’s voice was barely heard.  
“Me too!” Ronald said as loud as he could so she could hear him, but he didn’t have much luck so they both laughed, jumping to the rhythm of the music and singing the lyrics.  
Susanna’s head was spinning around and the contract marc in her neck vibrated with the music as well. She didn’t know if it was the volume, the tequila she just drank, the smell of marihuana in the distance or a mix of all of them, but she felt happy and filled with energy. She knew her legs would hurt so bad the next day, but that didn’t stop her from jumping around and dancing with Ronald.  
Exactly at 12:45 AM, the shinigami looked at his watch and approached Susanna, touching her shoulder.  
“It’s almost time to reap those souls. Do you want to come along or you rather wait for me?”  
“Will you take long?”  
“No, I can come back in 15 minutes… besides it won’t be messy. Overdose is the cause of death, and the 3 guys are inside their tents”  
“… I’ll wait for you here…” she said with some bewilderment in her face after hearing how natural Ronald’s voice sounded hen he said that.  
“aight! I’ll be back soon”  
The shinigami walked away quite easily among the crowd. Apparently he had an ability to do it, because it would be nearly impossible for anyone else to walk with all those people jumping around. A few minutes later, Susanna started to feel dizzy; a familiar feeling of the alcohol’s effect and she couldn’t help but smile. The next song was one of her all-time favorites, so she jumped as hard s she could, feeling the sweat running down her back and neck, refreshing the contract mark that started to feel warm. For an instant, time seems to stop and then everything was in slow motion. She saw the group next to her, trying to lift one of their friends to get him near the stage, and how another group of guys looked at her insistently, trying to get her attention.   
A new song started to play and suddenly she felt an arm surrounding her waist, approaching little by little from behind her. She felt that person’s breath on her nape and a pair of lips next to her left ear, sending shivers down her spine. Her heart stopped for an instant, until she heard a familiar voice…

 

Author’s notes:  
Hey there!  
So, chapter 9! How about it? I got some inspiration to write this one a couple months ago, when I went to this electronic music concert and an idea came to me: Ronald would be an excellent partner for that kind of events! So as soon as I was home, I wrote it down. The only difference is that, even if you are way too drunk, the effect would go away very soon, because you sweat a lot… and I mean a lot! With those jumps and dancing.  
And back to the story… any ideas about who might appear behind Susanna?  
Take care!


	10. Consequences

Chapter 10. Consequences.

A chill went down Susanna’s back and the contract mark started to feel so hot, it ached on her neck, and then she heard a very familiar voice.  
“I see you are having fun”  
“Sebastian!” she knew he would eventually find her, but still, she was surprised to see him there.  
“I thought you would wait for me at the party” still not letting her go and with an intense look in his eyes that she couldn’t describe; antagonizing or ironic.  
“There was a small change of plans…” she raised her voice so he could hear her with the loud music.  
“So I’ve noticed, and it makes me sorrowful that you didn’t want me to come along…” Sebastian’s hand traveled down her arm, still holding her waist “… I believe it’s time to go”  
“But it’s still early” she turned a little to look at him and their faces were very close, so much their breaths were mixed.  
“If I might say it, you drank too much and I’m afraid that, if we remain here longer, we could provoke a scene, so it would be better if we go back”  
“…Alright…” she finally said after trying to blackmail him with her puppy eyes without any results, but the tiny feeling the butler could take advantage of her state.  
Before they walked towards the exit, Susanna gave a last glance and a flirtatious smile to the group of guys I front of her, and without her realizing it, Sebastian did the same, only with a threatening glare.  
Once they were away from the crowd, they headed to the parking lot. The demon holding her with an arm around her waist so she could walk straight and as soon as they left the place, someone called the girl.  
“Susanna!” the voice sounded worried.  
“Ronald?”  
“I was looking for you, I thought…” he ran towards them but immediately stopped as soon as he recognized Sebastian and adopted a defensive attitude.  
“I suppose you were the one who got her drunk” the butler’s eyes shone in pink; dangerous eyes looking at the shinigami “what were exactly your intentions?”  
“What? I didn’t…” he summoned his death scythe and held it tight as the air started to feel tense “we were just having fun”  
“Sebastian…” she tried to sound persuasive, but her voice was groggy.  
“Were you planning to take advantage of the situation?” Sebastian’s voice was menacing.  
“Hey! What are you implying? I would never...” the young man was interrupted by a pair of pruners hitting his head “ups…” without a doubt, he recognized who they belonged to.  
“Ronald Knox! Would you care to explain what is going on here?” they all looked at William with different expressions. In one hand, Ronald looked very worried, on the other, Sebastian was angry and then, Susanna welcomed him with a big grin; she was in a very good mood.  
“Sir! I… just finished with my work and…”  
“Honestly, we already have enough problems with Sutcliff chasing around this demon and causing problems instead of only watching him and now this… and I presume this smell of alcohol doesn’t come from you…” he approached the younger reaper.  
“That... might be me…” Susanna managed to say between laugh, although Sebastian didn’t let her get closer to them. As for William, he looked serious and cold as he glanced at her, making her react immediately “you know what? Smiling once in a while would make you even better looking. In fact, you would look very hot!... although that grumpy gesture isn’t bad at all, you know what I mean? And…” she stopped talking as soon as she noticed the reproach and surprised faces on the three men “ok, I better shut up”  
“Honestly…” William compulsively adjusted his glasses, avoiding to show any kind of emotions after Susanna’s drunken words. Then he looked at Ronald “you will have to work overtime for this. Despite collecting the souls on time, you did it under the influence of alcohol, not to mention that you revealed the cause of death of those people to someone outside the shinigami dispatch… and don’t even make me start with the administrative faults” severity showed in his voice and the blonde could only lowed his head after the scolding “besides, there is a demon here. Do you have any idea of the risk that means?”  
“Sebastian just got here and we were already leaving” the girl tried to defend the younger reaper so William looked at her, studying her for a while.  
“Let’s go, Ronald. You have numerous reports to fill and you will also have to speak with the higher commands to explain your mess” they both walked away.  
“Next time, you should keep an eye on your employees” Sebastian was determined to make William angry.  
“Just what I needed, a blithering creature from hell to tell me how to do my work… especially when he isn’t even capable of watching over his owner…” and then they disappeared, leaving Sebastian very upset with his comment.  
“Burned…“ said Susanna before laughing.  
“We better go home, Miss…” his voice was irritated.  
The next day, Sebastian entered Susanna’s bedroom earlier than usual and with a triumphant smile on his face.  
“Milady…” the butler said as he widely opened the curtains “it’s time to wake up”  
“Ah! Sebastian… close the goddamn curtain” she yelled as soon as she saw the light coming through the window. Then she saw the clock on the night table “what the hell?! It’s 6:30 am and it’s Sunday”  
“Oh, perhaps I forgot to mention it, but you have a special event that you have to attend to. It ‘s a 10 km race organized by AstraZeneca on behalf of the charity hospitals you recently opened.  
“I’m dying” there was something strange in her voice and an instant later she ran towards the bathroom.  
With a very mischievous smile and not even bothering to hide it because Susanna wasn’t looking at him, he followed her to the bath’s door, where the unmistakable sound of vomit was heard. She would definitely suffer that morning and he would absolutely enjoy it.  
“Milady, don’t tell me you are hung over…” his voice sounded innocent and as soon as she went out of the bathroom, her eyes reflected deep hatred.  
“I don’t feel well at all…” and she ran towards the bathroom again while Sebastian looked for a proper outfit for the race. There was no way he would have mercy on her; not that day.  
“I’m very sorry to say this, but it is necessary that you go to this race. You can run 5 km instead of 10 km if you’d prefer. I left some shorts, the official shirt and a pair of running shoes on your bed. Would you like some assistance for dressing?”  
“As if! Not even in my wildest dreams!” was heard from the bathroom “just give me ten minutes” and he left the bathroom, waiting for the girl to come out of the room. Fifteen minutes passed and she didn’t come out, so he decided to check on her.  
“Oh, Miss…” a disappointed look appeared on his face after seeing that, once she was dressed with the sportive outfit she went back to sleep “I’m terribly sorry, but we have to go now” he approached the bed and carried her all the way to the car.  
“Do not want!” she almost cried.  
“Look at the bright side” Sebastian said as he walked down the stairs with the girl in arms “when the race is finished, the hangover will be gone” and cynically smiled.  
Once they were in the car, she laid down on the back seat, hoping she could sleep for a while, which was impossible because, coincidently the road was closed and they had to drive through the damaged old road, which made her feel even worse. As soon as they arrived to the park where the race would take place, Sebastian opened the door and she looked at him with threatening eyes and said.  
“You are doing this on purpose…” her pale skin was turning greenish.  
“Oh, no Milady I wouldn’t dare to do such a thing…” he made sure his gesture seemed offended, but his voice changed before saying “…not without reason, of course”  
“I hate you…” she got off the car and walked towards the point here the race would start. There were many of her company’s employees who greeted her by saying things like “we thought you wouldn’t come” or “it’s good to see you here”. At that point, she wasn’t sure what was worse: her butler’s revenge for running away the night before or the terrible hangover that didn’t let her think straight.  
When Susanna finished the race she felt relieved. The agony was over, or at least part of it. She wasn’t sure if she had ran or walked, but she managed to somehow finish with those 5 km and cross the finish line, where Sebastian waited for her with electrolytes and orange juice.  
“Congratulations, Milady. You finished on an excellent time of…” he took out the watch on his pocket “…45 minutes…” and hi smile was like an angel’s; so adorable it was cynic and shameless.  
“We are going home, now!” she walked towards the car.  
“But the medals…” he sounded disappointed but as soon as he saw the girl’s face he decided it had been enough punishment for the day “as you wish”  
Once they were home, the girl entered the kitchen, wearing sun glasses and with a very dry mouth. At least the nausea was gone, but the headache and cold sweat continued. She took out a bottle of water from the refrigerator and serum to rehydrate, then she sat in one of the chairs by the counter.   
“Good morning, Miss” Abby’s smile became a worried gesture when she saw the other girl “are you alright?”  
“No….”  
“I’m afraid Miss Susanna drank too much last night” Sebastian whispered.  
“Oh, I see… do you want something to breakfast?”  
“Not now… I will be in my room…” she stood up and headed to her room after seeing the annoying and mocking smile on the butler’s face “this isn’t over…”  
Later that day, once she slept a couple more hours and regained strength, she went to the study to try to decipher the message in the letters. Sebastian had already made a translation and left it on her desk, making sure that the part that affected her wasn’t there.  
Congregati septem, adducebunt illum. Dum Deus sit mortus, tantum gladius et diabolus praebalebunt adversus eum; together, the seven will bring it back. While God is dead, only the blade and the devil could win against him  
She couldn’t think about the meaning behind it. She knew it was referring to the members of that group of families, but she didn’t know what the “blade” was. It could be some king of power or metaphor, but… about what?  
She looked through the window. All her attention had gone away with the birds flying in the horizon. She remembered the party and the concert from last night. She had so much fun and even the terrible hangover as worth it, although Sebastian took advantage of the whole situation to make it clear she shouldn’t run away like that.  
It was, somehow, a way to protect her, but she mustn’t forget he was a demon and that morning’s torture was proof of it. Then she thought about Ronald and William’s severe scolding. He was a cool guy, carefree and funny, very different from the other shinigamis she knew. Grell was flamboyant and loved attention. On the other side, William was serious, strict, cold and with impeccable manners; attractive and handsome…  
Wait, did she just thought about him as attractive and handsome? And now she remembered that last night she had told him he was very good looking, or something like that. She moved her head to get the idea off her mind and smiled to herself. A little while later, someone knocked on the door.  
“Are you feeling better, Milady?”  
“Much better… but if you ever repeat what you did this morning…”  
“Yes?” he wanted to know what she would do. His attitude was challenging but his smile make him look more tractive.  
“We will get rid of those cats you hide in the basement” the butler’s expression immediately changed. At first he was surprised; he hid those adorable creatures very well, or so he thought. His face was now worried on a childish way “You think I didn’t notice it? You can hear them from the garden. And after getting rid of them, we could get two dogs. I’ve always wanted to have a guard dog, one of those that seem threatening and scary. They would actually be very happy with all the space to run around”  
“I don’t think that would be necessary, Miss” his attitude was now kind and modest.  
“I certainly hope so”  
“Besides” he walked towards the desk, his eyes piercing her “why would you like two guard dogs? With my by your side would be more than enough and I don’t bark”  
“No, but your little games could be considered as bites”  
“If I may say it” he got closer to her and whispered to her ear “…certain bites could cause much pleasure…” Susanna struggled, trying so hard that her face didn’t show any emotions, as an endless torrent of ideas, thoughts and images went through her mind. Yes, she was expressionless, but her cheeks were bright pink.   
“Did you find something yesterday?” she said after a moment, faking a cough.  
“I’m glad you ask. I found around 10 places in common that one of the Ministers and Alphonse Turner often go. I didn’t consider restaurants or social clubs, but there were some warehouses, offices and two docks that might interest you. I also found this in one of the offices” he took out a paper from his jacket and put it on Susanna’s desk.  
“This is a schedule” she studied it for a while “there’s a shipment coming with shoes, dolls, liquor… looks pretty normal to me. What makes you think it’s suspicious?”  
“Schitterend, the Company that shipped it doesn’t trade with that kind of products. They actually make chemical and cleaning products. That means they have access to labs and chemistry substances. Look at the name of the liquor those containers carry”  
“N. Glasse, harvest of 1925… is the nitroglycerine they used on the bombs!” she sounded alarmed.  
“And if it wasn’t obvious enough, 19.253 is the exact measure of the original compound used in the mix”  
“There must be something else in those containers. Perhaps drugs or…“ she looked at Sebastian “it comes from Holland, Schneider hast to be there. It’s his home coutry”  
“Indeed. And if I may add, I would like to check that dock and study the movements in thre, as well as the security around it”  
“If course. We have to be prepared”  
“Unless you want something before I leave?” Sebastian friendly smiled, with a little naughtiness as if he was expecting Susana to ask him to stay a little longer, for whatever reason. Their eyes met for a second and then she said.  
“No, you can go now” she tried to ignore him as he looked at the schedule again, avoiding the demon’s glance.  
“Understood. I’ll see you later, then”  
Sebastian jumped from the window behind Susanna’s chair, and after that, a beating of wigs was heard.  
With the same grace of an authentic bird, he flew wearing his crow shape through the London sky, where the whole city could be seen. He remembered those old times, at the end of XIX century, when traveling from one extreme of the city to the other didn’t took longer than one hour and nights were darker. Only a few mansions and building had electricity and candles wouldn’t last all night long.  
It was impressive how much had London changed since he had a contract with Ciel Phantomhive, but humans despite being fascinating, kept making the same old mistakes, having the same longings and weaknesses, and from time to time someone interesting appeared. Sebastian’s cleverness always led him to those people and made sure the circumstances were ideal so he could offered them a contract. Without a doubt, William T. Spears was right about his double intentions. He mentally smiled.  
He had some expectations when he made the contract with Susanna, but they changed as he got to know her better, when he sensed her potential and her soul’s flavor; the challenge of manipulating her, the distraction and entertainment she gave him was captivating, despite denying it at first, until the moment he stopped seeing her as something to feed on, and then she became something he could corrupt and mold just for the pleasure of leading her to the darkness.  
Yes, pleasure was the best word to describe it, with all the meanings it implied, even his demonic carnal desires, which he had not succumbed to for a very long time. Another smile appeared on his mind as he thought about his plans.

The clockwise marked eight in the morning when Sebastian entered Susanna’s room, ready to wake her up like he did every day, but as soon as he opened the door, he noticed she was already awake and taking a bath, which intrigued him.  
A couple minutes later, the bath and closet’s door opened and the girl, wearing a pair of jeans and a casual blouse walked into the room, not noticing his butler looking at her, without missing a single movement of her. Then she felt his stare around her, intense and intimidating as the first day they met, but something was different.  
“You came back early” she looked through the widow.  
“Yes, Milady. I’ve gathered all the information needed so you can” he chose the smoothest words he could “have a little talk with Kraig Schneider”  
“Very well. Then…”  
“I left some documents on your desk. Please, come with me so we can review them” Sebastian walked towards the door and stood next to it, waiting for the girl to step out the room. Once they were in the study they kept talking.  
“They are letters, maps and inventory” she sat on the chair, taking the paper and studying them, astonished with the information. It was all she needed to know about Schneider and his connections with port authorities. She could even accuse him of contraband, but that wasn’t her objective.  
She continued reading the letter, and among them she found some correspondence between him, Ricardo Soler, Aidan Crawford and the letters D.S.G which could belong to that Janssens-Guillot guy. It was all she needed! Unluckily, there weren’t any addresses or clues of their whereabouts, only white envelopes sealed like antique letters, with wax and a familiar seal. Apparently the 4 men had exchanged information about Ivan Reznik’s murder and the strange circumstances around it. They also spoke about the suspicion on Susanna Serafer and how they failed to make her disappear some month before, but they weren’t exactly sure she was responsible for Reznik’s death. Also, many of the words they used were written in code; some terms weren’t exactly common or adequate to the context, making everything even more suspicious.  
Susanna got very serious after reading those papers, trying to assimilate the information she just read and felt the need of running after them in that moment, ending with everything once and for all. The idea of abandon her mission had gone long time ago and now she could only face what came next.  
“Sebastian, this time we need to be very careful. Something tells me that this will be more complicated than the Crimson Cherry” she took another look at the guard schedules her butler had prepared. All the needed information for organize an attack was written in there “we might need some help with this. We are talking about a dock with many containers and where Schneider’s guards could be hidden”  
“I’m agree, Miss. We will need someone to drive the car and that knows the city pretty well. Perhaps we could even use two cars” Sebastian walked around the study with a finger on his chin, very focused “we will also need someone capable of close combat and someone to tell us the position of the guards”  
“That would be the best, and I don’t think you can divide in four…” she wrote down some ideas in one of the papers on the desk “get some mercenaries that…”  
“What kind of butler would I be if I hadn’t already taken care of that?” he grinned.  
“You did? And where…” she followed the butler with her eyes, siding her head with curiosity as he opened the study’s door…

Author’s notes.  
Hi everyone!  
I had so much fun writing this chapter and I’m very anxious to publish what’s next. A very cool action scene is coming, and there will be plenty of surprises!


	11. The docks and the warehouse.

Chapter 11. The docks and the warehouse.

Sebastian’s grin was triumphal as he walked towards the door and Susanna followed him with her eyes, curious about what kind of mercenaries he had gotten.  
“I’m pleased to inform you that, as part of your heritage, your grandfather left you three very capable employees”  
Fer, Abby and Thomas waited outside the study, ready to enter when Sebastian told them to. One by one they stood in front of the girl’s desk, who was very surprised to see them like that, in line with a smile on their faces and a huge determination in their eyes.  
“I thought only Thomas had known my grandfather.  
“Everyone did, but Mr. Haggard knew him since they were still kids and they were quite close. On his last years, Master Richard made sure his family, or what was left of them, were well protected and for that he hired these two young people” the butler explained “Thomas has always been in charge of security. He knows the city like anyone and he will be our driver for tonight’s escape route”   
“It will be my pleasure, Miss” Thomas widely smiled and bowed.  
“Ferdinand used to work at the MI6. He was part of the engineering, electronics and intelligence division, so he will be in charge of detecting how many guards are in the docks, their positions and movements”  
“But…” this time the girl was almost shocked “just… how old are you, Fer?”  
“I know I look younger than I actually am” he laughed “but I’m actually 35. Your grandfather hired me when I left the MI6, after a very… traumatic experience” his voice got darker as he remembered.  
“Then, Master Richard found Abby, who suffered a terrible amnesia at the time and he made sure she received training. She is specialist in CQC, so she will come with us and clear the area so we ca find Mr. Schneider and take those documents”  
“Finally, some action!” the blonde girl seemed very excited.  
“I never…“ Susanna was speechless “…thought you were…”  
“Your grandfather gave us the task of protecting the Serafer family, and he was always generous and kind to us” Fer seemed very solemn “so it’s only fair for us to go after those people who are trying to destroy your family, the same people who killed him. It’s the least we could do”  
“Thank you. I really appreciate it”  
Fer seems excited and Thomas and Abby apparently shared the feeling. As for Sebastian, he just looked at the scene with satisfaction. Apparently, all those years of anticipation were paying off. Being Richard Serafer’s advisor gave him prospective of his current contract.  
Without wasting any more time, they started to make the plan. Fer’s knowledge in espionage was a great help on avoid being caught. They thought of a route that would take them directly to Kraig Schneider and a plan to distract the guards and keep them away from the docks. Of course, they made sure to skip all details about Sebastian’s true identity and any supernatural stuff that might be involved.  
Two cars left the Serafer residence at twilight. One of them was driven by Thomas, along with Abby and Fer who were in that same vehicle, which carried a bunch of electronic equipment, like laptops, gadgets, infrared binoculars and a well-equipped medical kit. Sebastian and Susanna were in the second car, carrying some weapons. The docks were around 45 minutes away, so they had time to review the plan.  
“When were you planning to tell me they were trained?” she wasn’t mad at the butler; she even had a tiny smile in her lips, but it was obvious he choose to hide the employees’ identities.  
“I was waiting for the right time” he seemed relaxed as his eyes focused on the road while driving.  
“How convenient…”  
“Certain things are better when postponed” he looked at her with a seductive glance and a smile on his face. She didn’t answer to it, she wasn’t willing to keep the demon’s little game; she wouldn’t give him that pleasure.  
The warehouse next to the docks appeared to be abandoned. Everything was dark from the outside, so they left the cars in a moderate distance. Then they put on the earpieces to communicate and walked towards the depot. Sebastian made some tricks to open the lock on the main gate and as soon as they entered, the scenery in front of their eyes was very different from what they expected: lots of boxes and containers piled up, from every size and color. Each one marked with a strange symbol that revealed its content.  
There were some lights that illuminated the outside part of the warehouse, where the containers were. They were around 300 meters away from the door and they had to be really sneaky so the guards didn’t see them. Once they were well hidden, Fer sent a drone to cause a small fire in one of the garbage containers on the other side of the area. Almost immediately, the guards ran to that point and as soon as the fire was extinguished, the same drone launched sleeping gas and left them unconscious.  
When Fer gave the signal, Sebastian, Abby and Susanna approached to the depot, making sure their steps didn’t make any noises and ready for anything. Both girls carried a gun and the butler led the way with the attitude of a SWAT agent.   
On the earpiece, Fer told them where the guards stood and guided them towards the entrance so they advanced fast. When it was necessary, Abby knocked down a guard so they wouldn’t be seen.  
The warehouse was huge and very dark, there was only one light bulb illuminating the right side. As they got closer, they could hear some male voices. Someone was giving indications while the others nodded or commented about it, but the creepiest thing were the screams and coming from one of the containers on the other side of the place, as if a bunch of people asked for help.  
As soon as they were close enough to understand what the group of men were saying, Sebastian told the girls to hide behind a big box and asked them to remain silent; perhaps they could hear something important about their activities.  
“From now on, I want a security operative surrounding this warehouse. I won’t put the wares and shipments under unnecessary risk, besides the murder of one of our associates put everyone on alert. We have reasons to believe we are next” said a middle aged man with blonde hair, blue eyes and arrogant attitude, wearing an elegant dark blue suit. Apparently he as in charge of the place and he scolded the men around him.  
“Yes sir!”  
“We have at least twenty armed men guarding this place. Another shipment from Morocco will arrive in six days and another one from Holland in two weeks. I don’t need to remind you of the big importance of this, neither of what would happen to you if anything goes wrong. From now on, the priority will be the shipments and me. The rest can go to hell, understood?”  
The man kept talking about the logistic and the wares inside the depot, but he didn’t mention anything useful; nothing that could lead Susanna to Crawford or Soler, so she made a gesture so Sebastian got closer.  
“I need you to get a sample of that nitroglycerine. Get rid of the guards only if is necessary, otherwise just tie them up and don’t make any noises. I also need those papers on the table” then she looked at the other girl “Abby, please, knock down those guards nearby that idiot, understood? We need to distract him. As soon as we are done, we’ll check on those screams in the other side of the warehouse. They might be witnesses of the business here”  
“Yes, Milady…” in a blink of an eye, the butler disappeared while Susanna indicated Abby to follow her and to take care of the guards after the signal.  
Two minutes later, Susanna started to walk and indicated that the plan would have to start.  
One by one, the guards fell and Fer let them know how many were left around. While Abby left some of them unconscious, Sebastian knocked down some others and tied them with the ropes he found. The target was facing the table under the light bulb, checking the lists and documents he just received and didn’t notice any movement.  
“Kraig Schneider… I didn’t think it would be so easy to find you alone…” said Susanna with mocking voice as she walked towards the blond man, pointing at him with her gun.  
“Who the hell are you?” the man asked, very surprised to see the girl I front of him, but as soon as he notices his bodyguards falling one by one, and taking a better look at her, he realized what was going on “oh, so it’ true… it is you… the last of the Serafer family” he laughed as he put his right hand inside of his trouser pocket, casually “I didn’t think you would have the guts to come into my dominion and get rid of my guards. I have to admit that it was bold… but everything ends here… but not for you, sweetie” he smiled at Abby, who stood next to Susanna, pointing at him with her gun “you can come and work for me. Someone with those abilities would be useful. Besides, in a couple minutes you will be unemployed…”  
“You sound too relaxed for someone who has two guns pointed at him” Susanna looked at Abby “or that is completely surrounded” referring to Sebastian, who had just taken the papers from the table behind Kraig Schneider.  
“Oh, you brought your bodyguards… interesting, but I’m sorry that your plan won’t work. You see, the problem with Ivan was his weakness. He couldn’t stop visiting that whorehouse multiple times a week, and let’s say that he was trapped on his own mediocrity, but the rest of us are different… we are never alone…”  
When he said that, he took out a cellphone from his pocket and threw it at the floor. Almost immediately, one of the containers exploded. At first the horror expression on Susanna and Abby were caused by the explosion, but then they noticed that the screams and yells couldn’t be heard anymore… that container was blown with those people inside.  
Taking advantage of the confusion, Schneider threw a small flask with purple liquid inside. His eyes turned white for a couple instants and incomprehensible words left his lips. Everything happened so fast, that no one had time to react. No one but Sebastian, who suddenly appeared behind Susanna to take her away from the thick liquid spreading in the floor.  
“Abby, hurry up and find Thomas. We need an escape route as soon as possible. Take this with you” the butler yelled and threw the documents at her “we need the area to be clean. The same with Fer!” the demon wasn’t sure about what was that purple liquid, but the reek coming from it couldn’t mean anything good; it was the same smell from the pounds in the underworld, and aside of protecting Susanna, he didn’t want Abby to see what was about to happen. He carried the dark haired girl to keep her away from the liquid, but at the same time he was going deeper into the warehouse.  
As for Abby, she took the papers, knowing very well how important they were and willing to protect them with her life. She rant between the boxes as fast as she could, approaching the door and ignoring the smoke filling the place. Fer indicated her the best way to get out the warehouse, as he looked through his binoculars and along with Thomas, they approached the main gate.  
He gave Abby many indications, but suddenly he wasn’t able to see anymore. A thick fog invaded the warehouse.  
A couple seconds after Abby went out the place, Sebastian left Susanna on the top of a heavy wooden box, whey she could see two horrible beings coming out from the floor, like take out of a terror movie or a survival horror videogame. The two individual had grey skin, hooded and with chains in their arms and legs. They were two meters tall and their eyes were completely red. Instead of talking, they emitted grim howls that would cause goosebumps on anyone. The thick liquid soon turned into purple smoke that seemed very hot and caused fire as soon as it reached the wooden boxes around the place.  
“What the fuck?! Are those abominations coming to eat us? We should get out of here!” Susanna managed to say after the impression of seeing those creatures.  
“Those are not abominations, Miss…” said Sebastian with an offended tone and a little annoyed after her comment “they are D class demons…” and then he was conscious about the whole situations and his attitude changed. Now he was very alarmed “and yes… we should run… they are very aggressive”  
As soon as the demons stood there, they focused their eyes on some guards that were tied next to them. Meanwhile, the boxes were starting to burn and Abby, who had just left the place noticed she didn’t have much time, so she kept running as fast as she could to get to the car and deliver the papers.  
The demons seemed distracted with the guards and their threatening eyes looked hungry, obviously thinking about eating their souls. In that moment a pruner hit one of them demons; the one who was closest to the guards.  
“No!... there is no way I will permit a bloody demon like you to feed on a soul during my shift…” William appeared just in time to avoid the guards’ souls being eaten “I’m not willing to work overtime because of some wild beasts” he muttered to himself and hit the other demon with great ability, getting on attack position “hell spectrums…” he said with disgust.  
His original job was to capture a certain individual, keep a demon from feeding on some souls and collect the cinematic records, but when the task was given to him, he thought the demon was Sebastian; he never though he would face Class D demons, not to mention that, indeed Michaelis was lurking somewhere nearby.  
The shinigami arrived a couple minutes before the guards’ death and he would have to distract those creatures until the exact time came, which wasn’t an easy task at all because they were very powerful and aggressive. Nevertheless, he controlled them but the problem was that, if he didn’t manage to knock them down or kill them before the time came, he would have difficulties with the cinematic records.  
His death scythe attacks were precise and his movements fluid, worthy of the supervisor of the Management Division, but still those demons managed to hit him a couple times and a minute before collecting those souls one of the windows in the warehouse broke, letting in two figures that entered at full speed; one in black and the other in red, who stood in front of the creatures who roared and tried to hit them  
“Sir! It looks like you started the party without us”  
“Will, dear, you know that I would follow you to hell, but these aren’t the types of demons I had in mind…”   
“Grell Sutcliff, Ronald Knox, distract those demons” said William as soon as he saw his coworkers “I need to collect those souls and capture Kraig Schneider to the mess he has caused to the souls lately” both shinigamis were the reinforcements sent to accomplish the mission given by the higher ranks of the Dispatch.   
Susanna was alarmed as soon as she heard it and Sebastian took the chance to put her the floor again. The heat caused by the fire was suffocating and it was getting worse with every passing second.  
“Listen, I will be the one who kills Schneider. Make some time while I’m at it. It’s an order”  
“Understood, Miss…” the butler said solemnly as he bower and ran to distract William, who was heading towards Schneider.  
Perhaps getting rid of the other tied guards would distract him. After all he was a demon and he could eat their souls. He looked around and there was fire everywhere, William was fighting with one of the hooded demons; they went to separate ways to distract the shinigamis and fought dangerously nearby one of the boxes with nitroglycerine, so Sebastian decided to intervene to avoid an explosion.   
As fast as her legs allowed her to, the girl ran after Schneider. The coward was hiding behind a large box. He was waiting for her with a revolver aiming at her, ready to shoot as soon as she appeared, but she was expecting that, so she ran towards him, shooting with her Smith and Wesson .45 directly to the man’s leg, who immediately screamed in pain, but he managed to shot her too. The bullet hit her thigh. Now they were both injured, but for an instant, her anger and rage was more powerful than the pain and approached him with determination.  
“You damn whore!”  
“That’s very kind!... I’m Susanna Serafer, Mr. Schneider and thanks to your friends” she looked at the demons fighting with Sebastian and the shinigamis “we will have to do this fast…” she shot him in the other leg, to stop him from running away “I need the location of your partners. You know who I’m talking about”  
“Fuck you if it weren’t for your ancestor’s betrayal, things would be very different”  
“Exactly, but if wishes were horses… so before I blow your head with my gun, do you have any information for me?” Susanna played a little with her gun as she waited for Schneider to speak.  
“Fuck off, you fucking cunt!... you are not even aware of the power that runs through your veins and you want to kill us all”  
“And I guess you won’t explain it to me, right?... don’t waste my time” she aimed at his head.  
“This won’t be easy, even if you take us out of the way, you won’t be able to handle Him you, your stupid tricks and those damn bodyguards, despite being talented, won’t be a match for him. You don’t know what you are getting yourself into and as soon as he has you under his power, you will be his slave for the rest of the eternity” the man said those words as if they were a curse; perhaps they were “yes…” he laughed “your soul is already damned, like the rest of your bloody family, unless someone takes advantage of you being a woman…”  
“Oh, come on! A misogynist comment? Wow… I was actually expecting something more intelligent. What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense and… I’m sorry, but I already have an appointment for the rest of the eternity… my soul belongs to someone else, so he would have to take a number. You sure you don’t want to say anything else before dying?”  
“Never! Deus est mortuus et nos occidimus eum”  
“Ah!” Susanna held her head, trying to stop those images from the time when she was kidnaped, unsuccessfully. She looked at the roof, hoping that turning her head up would allow her to breathe better, but the pain from the bullet in her thigh was terrible, just like her memories. The slim line between reality and recall was diffuser than ever.  
After seeing her reaction, Kraig Schneider took the opportunity to drag himself to the back door, hoping to be there on time as Susanna’s screams were heard all around the warehouse, making the shinigamis turn to look at her along with Sebastian, who was sure she wasn’t in risk of death, but those screams could only mean one thing: she was having another PTSD attack.  
Immediately, Sebastian hurried to hit the other demon and launch him to the other side of the warehouse, where his twin fought Grell and Ronald. Then, with fast peace, he ran towards Susanna, noticing that William was nowhere to be seen, and then his eyes opened widely…  
Rage invaded Susanna and the thirst of vengeance clouded her thoughts, making her walk slowly and angrily towards Schneider, on a frenzy caused by her own memories and the repulsion for them.  
She followed the track of blood on the floor and as soon as she found him, without saying a work she shoot at his face, tore and stomach as teardrops left her eyes. The gunshots sounded loud, along with the punch noises farther away, caused by the fights with those demons. Then, a bright light blinded Susanna, making her cover her eyes, still on the rapture she was experimenting.  
From Schneider’s chest, some defined shadows that looked like movie tapes appeared and William, who rushed towards the man, collected his soul. He couldn’t stop Susanna from killing him, but his cinematic record wouldn’t go away.  
“Kraig Schneider. Born on April the 4th of 1960. Dead on June 6th, 2015. No important events. Completed” seconds later, the bright light disappeared and the shinigami put a seal on the book he was holding, which disappeared moments later “soul correctly reaped”   
The reaper looked at Susanna, who was sitting with her back leaning against one of the boxes in the place, away from the fire. He had been witness of what had happened; it was evident she wasn’t herself at the moment: she cried and sobbed with the gun in her hand, covering her ears as if she as trying to mute inexistent voices that made her suffer. Aside of that, he could also see some kind of golden mist approaching her, but only for a couple seconds.  
William felt again that strange sensation of compassion and will to protect her; Susanna’s state was unbearable in his eyes, which screamed the word endearment as they looked at her. Then he kneeled on the floor, slowly approaching so she wouldn’t be more upset and then with a serious but soft tone on his voice he said.  
“Susanna… it’s me, William. Look at my eyes”  
“No, I don’t want to… I don’t want those men to hurt me!!” she threw the gun to and embraced herself, tears kept flowing from her eyes down to her cheeks. She was trembling and sweating cold, although she wasn’t yelling anymore.  
Meanwhile, Sebastian approached them as fast as he could, worried for her and the violent reactions she might have. Besides, he wasn’t sure what William was up to; he didn’t know if he would attack her in order to finish his job or if he would do something against her, but the doubt was quickly answered, when he saw them next to a big box: the girl in the middle of a panic attack and the shinigami… comforting her?  
“Please, calm down. Look at me” William took her face with his hand so she would focus her eyes on him, before she could have another attack or scream. He was able to keep Susanna’s gaze “concentrate on my eyes” her sobbing stopped “we are in a warehouse in London. I can assure you that no one is going to hurt you, but I need you to calm down, yes? Take a deep breath and keep looking at my eyes” something in his voice sounded different; at first he was quite alarmed and worried but soon it became curiously kind “Good. Now, do you remember my name?”  
“Wi… William” the girl as finally reacting.  
“That’s right, Susanna, and what are we doing here?”  
“Schneider… I came to kill him…” her eyes opened a little more, she was surprised as if she had just woke up in the middle of the night just to see that she was safe in her room… except that they were in a warehouse on fire with a pair of demons fighting against two reapers and she had just killed a man “William, what…?”  
“I was very worried about you, Milady” Sebastian jumped towards them.  
“You?! worried?” the shinigami stood up and adjusted his glasses; his voice returning to the usual tone.  
“I did what you asked me to, but as soon as I heard you screaming…” ignoring the reaper’s comment, Sebastian helped her stand up and handed her the gun that was in the floor, noticing the wound in her leg “you are injured…”  
Suddenly, a couple meters away from them, some boxes set on fire and one of the demons launched a fire ball on Susanna’s direction, but before it could reach her, the butler carried her by the waist and took her to a safe place.  
“Schneider is dead, we just need to get rid of those demons” the girl said, but she had some trouble speaking clearly. The wound in her thigh was hurting so much. They were now standing on the top of one of the containers, and William followed them.  
“Honestly, I highly doubt that pistol of yours could be any useful right now” the shinigami said before jumping to attack one of the demons with his death scythe but before he could hit it, the creature summoned a golden spear; it as a long weapon that shone with every movement and had hieroglyphs craved on its surface.   
“That spear!” Grell yelled.  
“It’s the spear of Gungnir” William explained, as if he was warning the other shinigami about the danger. He was evidently shocked after seeing it and then he hurried to regroup with his subordinates.  
Then, the hooded demon tried with all his strength to reach the dark haired reaper who was too fast for him, but he couldn’t anticipate the other demon’s movement, who was rights behind him, trying to cut his head off with his claws.  
Grell screamed as soon as he saw what was going on. William jumped and dodged the blow, but the spear reached his arm and he fell into the ground, in front of the eyes of the worried shinigamis and Susanna, who saw the scene from far away, mortified to see him disappearing among the smoke that was filling the place...

 

Author’s notes:  
I know…. Will!!!!!!  
What’s going to happen to William?! Let’s hope that wound isn’t too serious… just when he was starting to show interest in Susanna. Let’s see what happens on the next chapter, which will be a little bloody.  
By the way, there is a little reference from a videogame in one of the dialogues (dragon age 2) did someone noticed it? I thought it was fun to add it.  
Let me know if you like the story so far and feel free to leave any suggestions. Have a great weekend!


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12. Tempting wounds.**

William fell into the floor and no one could see him for a couple instants, everything happened in slow motion and a buzz invaded the place but suddenly a black shadow appeared on the right side of the warehouse. It was him, jumping and glaring at those demons. The reaper used his death scythe to jump and cut one of the demon’s legs, but he was evidently hurt.

It was amazing how fast the supervisor of the shinigamis was and how easy he dodged the demon’s blows as he pierced them with his weapon while Grell tried to stop their attacks and Ronald recovered from a heavy blow As for Sebastian, he told Susanna to hide behind a pile of boxes that weren’t yet damaged.

“You will have to leave this place as soon as possible. Stay here while I plan an escape route”

“Alright” the girl stood there, frustrated because she wasn’t able to do anything about the situation. Something inside of her told her to fight, but she knew she wouldn’t stand a chance against those grey demons.

Sebastian joined the fight, which was getting rougher with every second. The spear those demons had wasn’t just any weapon; it had already pierced through William’s arm, so no one was safe from a lethal attack.

With a big fireball, Sebastian manage to make the demons move backwards. He knew their weaknesses very well; he was one of them, although this pair was the most aggressive of his kind. Luckily, he could make some time but it would be nearly impossible to win the battle without compromising Susanna’s safety, especially with the nitroglycerine inside the containers, so he screamed at William from one of the joists in the roof; the shinigami was near the girl, trying to stop the bleeding in his arm. 

“Take Susanna out of here!” Sebastian’s face showed genuine concern; for the first time in several centuries, he didn’t feel in control of the situation, much less with the Gungnir spear there, which could deadly hurt demons and shinigamis equally, and something inside told him that Susanna would be safe if she was with William; if he couldn’t protect her from a certain dead, at least the reaper would be able to take her out of the warehouse.

William’s first instinct was to antagonize the demon. How could he cooperate with such abomination? Much less, agree to one of his petitions, but on the other hand, he was conscious the girl’s life was in danger, and the butler referring to her by the first name showed how dangerous the situation was

In that moment, the shinigami though it wasn’t only the fact that Susanna could help humanity; by that time, there was already something deeper that made him worry about her wellbeing, something that contradicted his doctrines and beliefs, but it existed nevertheless. He was speechless for a moment, and then Ronald appeared right next to him, with his usual energy and lawnmower  

“Sir! We’ll take care of this. You are hurt and you can’t fight properly… the demon, Grell and I will take care of those monsters… wow, I never thought I would say such thing” he said that last part to himself as he jumped to dodge a joist falling from the roof. William looked at him and nodded.

“You better finish them up. I don’t want to work overtime the rest of the week”

Getting out of the warehouse with the girl was the best option, since they were both hurt and they would only get in the way of the fight. He was more than able to judge such situation, so he approached Susanna, who was in one corner, behind some boxes, coughing and breathing with difficulty because of the smoke. He helped her stand up and held her y the waist with his good arm.

“What are you doing?”

“Saving your life for the second time… hold on tight” and she surrounded her with her arms as he used his death scythe to break one of the windows and get out of the place.

Right before William and Susanna left, Sebastian looked at them as they jumped through the window, and for a moment the expression on his eyes changed, but that disappeared quickly, when he was conscious again of what was going on around him and now that his Mistress wasn’t there, he didn’t have to hold back his powers when fighting, so a black shadow appeared around him. As for the shinigamis, they looked more threatening and their green eyes glowed even brighter. Something bad was about to happen…

As soon as William and the girl were outside the warehouse, they met Fer, who was impatiently waiting for them to get out. He told them where the car was and they went to such place. The reaper was still holding her, making sure her leg didn’t get any more hurt. While they walked towards the car, heavy and loud noises came from the warehouse, as well as howls made by the type D demons.

As soon as they were there, Abby helped them get in the car and Thomas started the engine.

 “Miss! Are you alright? Where’s Sebastian?” the other girl asked very alarmed.

“Well, we’re still alive… Sebastian will catch up with us in the house. I need a medical kit” she had a gesture of pain in her face “Fer, can you hear me?” she touched the earpiece.

“Loud and clear, miss. What are your instructions?”

“Hide and wait until Sebastian goes out. As soon as you see him, go and pick him up. He will be with two other men with glasses. Take them home and have some medical equipment at hand, just I case” the adrenaline flowed through her veins and her worried face was noticeable.

“Understood”

“Here you go” Abby handed her the medical kit.

“By the way, this is Mr. Spears” she pointed at William as she took the box.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Spears. Thank you for bringing Miss Susanna to the car”

“No… it’s nothing” he was serious as always as he saw the warehouse in flames getting smaller as they went away

The car had always have medical supplies in case of emergency, and it was well equipped for any kind of situation. She hurried to prepare a morphine shot for the pain in her leg and William looked at her with reproach.

 “It’s not a high dose…” she explained before he would lecture her.

“Honestly… you were lucky to get out of there only with a bullet wound” he said as he took off his necktie and gave it to her so she could make a tourniquet.

“Thanks” she took it and tied it to her leg, making sure the bleeding stopped and with an intense gesture of pain “I…” she leaned in the seat at last “wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you”

 “…I’m glad you’re fine…”

There was silence for the rest of the trip. They were all either impressed for what had happened, or lost on their thoughts, trying to find an explanation for what they saw; an explanation that would never come and only Sebastian, the shinigamis and Susanna would understand.

As soon as they were back in the house and parked the car, they went inside.  Susanna went to look for a more complete medical kit they kept in the kitchen.

“Come with me” she told William as she entered the studio on the first floor and closing the wooden sliding doors. As for Abby, she walked towards the kitchen, wondering what had happened in the warehouse.

Once in the studio, William sat in one of the couches, getting his breath back and organizing his thoughts after what he saw. Besides, either he liked it or not the spear hurt him bad and the pain was intense, almost impossible to hide.

 “Are you alright?” she took a chair and sat in front of him.

“Yes… it’s just a scratch and...” he began to explain but stopped when he noticed Susanna got closer to him, approaching to his right shoulder. There was something in her closeness that made him feel restless in a way he seemed to enjoy.

“There’s a big blood stain. I don’t think it’s only a scratch. Let me see, I want to take a look at that wound” she said as she prepared some cottons and alcohol to tend the shinigami’s wound.

 “How do you pretend to take care of me when you have a bullet wound in the leg?... honestly, you humans aren’t practical at all.”

“Stop complaining. With the tourniquet and the morphine shot I got in the car it’s enough for now. I’ll take care of it later, now we need to check you. I don’t want the _Chief Supervisor of the shinigamis_ to be unable to do his work because of me”

“The correct title is _Supervisor of the Shinigami Dispatch Society_ and… this is hardly because of you, besides… what are you doing?” he objected as soon as he felt the girl’s touch on his chest.

“How do you expect me to check that wound with your jacket on?.... William, for once in your life, let someone else help you, would you?” she looked at him with an annoyed gaze but a lot of kindness in her eyes. She was truly worried about him and not only because of the attraction she had towards him. After all, he was the one who helped her get over the nervous crisis at the warehouse.

 “Honestly… “ he took off the jacket with a very slowly; any movement made the pain get worse.

“Let’s see” Susanna helped him to get rid of the jacket as she looked at the shinigami’s bare hands for the first time. She had always seen him wearing gloves and wondered many times if he had black nails like Sebastian, but he didn’t. His fingers were long and his skin seemed smooth and soft to the touch.

 “You still have it!” she said after seeing the purple wrist band on William’s hand; the same one she gave him when they met.

“It was a gift, I can’t just get rid of it” he looked at the other side, pretending to look at the paintings in the studio.

Susanna fought the urge to take William’s hand, distracting herself with his shirt as she slowly unbuttoned it while he looked at her with a serene expression, delighting with the soft touches over his clothes. And then he remembered that _casual_ comment she made  the day of the concert, perhaps under the influence of alcohol, but did she consider him as attractive?... immediately he turned to see the painting on the wall, which suddenly seemed more interesting than anything else.

When he had only his sleeveless shirt, Susanna took a small towel with water to clean the blood around the wound on William’s shoulder. As she cleaned it, she fought the temptation of getting distracted with the reaper’s looks, which seemed to invite her to touch him: his soft skin and the shirt, which didn’t cover him completely, made her imagination run as his essence made it even harder. The smell of the cologne in his skin was intoxicating.

They both remained silent, pretending to be very focused on the healing task and then she took a small cotton with alcohol.

 “This can hurt a little…”

“We, shinigamis don’t… ah!” he obviously didn’t expected to feel any pain when the alcohol touched his wound.

“Well, I’m very sorry, Mister shinigami, but that spear had something that’s making you feel as if you were mortal… don’t worry, I don’t think it will last long” she laughed with a little malice as she continued disinfecting the cut with one hand and holding his arm with the other.

William’s skin was cold, several degrees under the human’s average and contrasted with the girl’s warmth. He was relaxed, despite of the pain. Susanna’s presence calmed him and as much as he tried to deny it, he liked feeling her touch. He enjoyed it more than it was sensate, considering the circumstances. For a moment he felt the need of saying something. Perhaps something just to break the silence, although he didn’t feel uncomfortable with it, but he wanted to hear her voice and see her expressions as she spoke, then he thought it would be fine to ask something simple, to make her feel comfortable, but before he could speak, she said something.

“By the way… I’m sorry for what happened the other day with Ronald” she was shy, and avoided his eyes “it seemed like a good idea at the moment. You know, running away from that boring party and going to this concert with him”

“It was reckless” there was severity in his voice “I mean from Mr. Knox, and considering how intoxicated you were…”

“Damn!....” he laughed as she remembered everything she said “I guess I as very drunk” there was a pause “I supposed I made you feel uncomfortable… no… I mean, I didn’t… well, what I’m trying to say is…” she started to get nervous and even the cotton in her hands fell.

“Don’t worry, it’s in the past… although I should admit, I was rather surprised that… grotty demon didn’t find you sooner. He isn’t as smart as he thinks” his voice had a spark of victory and she took another cotton ball.

“William…” she made a pause before speaking again and looked at her eyes for an instant, just to make sure he was looking at her too and then she turned her eyes to the cut “I’m sorry you had to see me like that at the warehouse. I don’t know how you did it, but… you took me out of there; out of that scary place in my mind… thank you” she kept cleaning the wound as William’s eyes opened wider, focusing on her and watching her lips tighten as she cleaned the wound,  trying not to hurt him.

 “You don’t have to thank me, it’ just that…” but before she could say anything else, a loud noise coming from the opening door was heard and then some steps.

“Sir! Are you…? Ups, sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt” Ronald was the first who entered and he was surprised after seeing the scene and misunderstand it completely. The view angle from the door didn’t let anyone see the medical kit.

“Will! What are you doing to my Will?!” Grell’s voice was heard.

“What are you talking about? I’m cleaning his wound…” she turned to look at them and stood up “and I see you need some help too” Ronald and Grell were hurt from the fight against those demons. They didn’t seem to have been reached by the spear, but their faces had some cuts and part of their clothes were burned.

“Yeah, that spear was special” Ronald sat and relaxed on the couch, next to William “that was Gungnir’s spear. According to the legend, it belonged to Odin. Can you imagine? The weapon of Odin himself and in the hands of a demon… but don’t worry, boss! We confiscated it” he showed William a big smile “a weapon like that, in the wrong hands, could be a chaos. It can hurt any creature. It’s even more powerful than a death scythe. That explains why we are all like this” he said looking at the wound on his boss’s arm.

“Odin’s spear… where’s Sebastian? Is he ok? Did something happened to him?” Susanna suddenly stood up from the chair, alarmed and worried about her Butler.

“He’s hurt, but I don’t think it’s serious. As soon as we entered the house, he went looking for a medical kit to cure your wound” Grell filled his nails, leaning in the wall.

“And when I saw Abby, she told me you had already retrieved it and was taking care of Mr. Spears” Sebastian entered the room. His shirt was torn and he had multiple cuts in his arm, but he had a bigger wound in his stomach, right below his ribs. He seemed to be standing with difficulty, which was a lot to say, considering he was a demon, but he didn’t complain at all.

“Sebastian! Are you alright?” Susanna approached him, trying to check the wound “we need to do something about it”

“Wonderful! At last, I have an excuse to see Sebastian and Will, shirtless…. Who should I tend to first?.... perhaps Sebastian while you continue with Will, or maybe I should take care of Will” Grell yelled around the room, deciding who should he help first, while Susanna helped Sebastian sit down in one of the couches. He could barely stand up and he leaned on the girl to do it as he glanced at the dark haired shinigami with mocking and victorious look in his eyes, which was answered with an deep angry glare. Meanwhile, Ronald was having fun seeing the whole scene, and noticed William seemed rather upset, which was even more entertaining when he found out the reason “Oh, perhaps it’s destiny! William, I will take care of your wounds”

“I highly doubt it, Grell Sutcliff… we better head back to the shinigami realm…” he took his shirt and jacket, without showing any gesture that indicated pain, despite his arm being really bad “we could get some proper medical attention in there. Besides, we need to make a report for the higher ups. Let’s go… this will be a long night” he approached the door and waited until his subordinates got out the place and then looked at Sebastian, sitting in the couch still wearing a triumphal smile. He really despised him. Then he turned to see Susanna “I really appreciate everything you did. Thank you, Susanna. I’ll see you later” he bowed a little and then closed the door after leaving the studio.

“Bye, William” her eyed followed him as he went out. She was worried, and her expression didn’t change much when she looked at his butler.

The demon was lying in the couch with his eyes almost closed, and he had a hard time breathing. The wound was painful and any movement made it worse. For the first time, Sebastian seemed vulnerable, although his aura was as threatening as always.

“Sebastian?” she said softly and with a slow movement, he opened his eyes, trying to stand up when he saw her.

 “Milady… how’s your leg? We have to…” she put her hand on his right shoulder, stopping him from standing.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t even try to get up” she went out the studio to wash her hands and when she returned, Sebastian was still lying in the couch, following her orders “it looks like you just got a nice beating… you have multiple wounds in the arm, but I’m more worried about the one under your ribs”

“I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t think two demons would appear, much less carrying Gungnir’s spear”

“At least I got to kill Schneider… alright I will need to take your shirt off” She took some alcohol and put in a small box with cotton balls.

“Of course, you can take my shirt off whenever you want…” his smile was weak.

“At least that spear didn’t take away your sense of humor” she struggled a little with the necktie, thanks to Sebastian’s intense gaze. He mischievously smiled and raised his eyebrow, as if he was ready to attack.

He wasn’t looking at her hands, but her face, conscious of the effect he had in her, and despite of being hurt, he enjoyed watching her blushing as she started to unbutton his blood-stained shirt, letting see his ripped chest. She tried very hard not to touch him and ignore the skin adjusting perfectly to his muscles. It was as if he was taken directly from a movie, and the fact of him being a demon, made it even more surreal. Susanna had way too many temptation for a night… or for a life.

Sebastian was about to make a comment about it, but the girl’s expression changed drastically as soon as she saw the wound.

The wounds in his arm weren’t too deep, jut shallow cuts made by the sphere and that might need some stiches. Blood ran down his arm and despite not being the prettiest image, it was nothing compared to his stomach, where the spear had reached, making a deep hole below his ribs. It wasn’t a clean cut, it looked as if the spear had torn his skin.

As soon as he saw it, Susanna’s face completely changed. She turned pale and worry showed in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, but… the truth is that I don’t know how fast demons heal, or how they do it. I don’t know the consequences of a wound made with that spear either. With It was like a normal human with William, but I don’t know what to do with you…” her voice tone was evidently preoccupied and even her eyes looked a little shiny, as if she was holding back some tears.

“Milady, please don’t waste those kind words with me, I’m not…” he said with his usual butler’s etiquette, but he was interrupted by her.

“Forget about the damn butler’s roll for an instant, I’m being serious with you” there was silence for an instant and Sebastian studied her expression.

This times, it was her who took him by surprise, and not because she was worried about him, but because it was a genuine, and it made obvious the fact of her being very well aware of his butler mask; a roll he played just to get what he wanted, and even after knowing it, she worried about him; for a demon who wouldn’t hesitate on taking her soul and take away any chances of salvation and who just a moment before enjoyed teasing her and making her nervous, a being who naturally  didn’t have good intentions and was compelled by  contract…. A deal that just a few seconds before, he though having under control.

What kind of person was Susanna really?

 

 

 

**_Author’s notes:_ **

**_Hello everyone!_ **

**_Thank you so much for reading my fanfic. I really appreciate all the kudos and comments!_ **

**_By the way, when I wrote that part when Susanna took off Sebastian’s shirt I remembered this “photoshop” scene from crazy, stupid love movie with Ryan Gosling. It’s in youtube if you want to check it out._ **

**_And how about the tension between Susanna and William? Gosh! He’s starting to feel something… I enjoy writing those scenes!_ **


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13. Closeness**

Susanna became very worried after seeing her butler’s wound, and it showed in her expression. It wasn’t like she got easily scared with blood, but a cut deep as that would impress anyone and didn’t even want to think about how painful it should be.

“How long would it take to heal under normal circumstances?” her brow frowned and her lips tightened.

“A couple hours” his response was cold; he didn’t want his discomposure to show and wondered what was really going on inside the girl’s mind “in this case, it will take a couple days if I focus my full power on it; faster than a human, but that spear is a powerful instrument”

“Alright then… I’ll put on some swaps on and… you focus on healing. We’ll talk about serious matter later” her voice was serious and she avoided the demon’s eyes as she started to clean the blood in his arm “I wonder if a painkiller would work on you…”

There was no answer. Sebastian remained silent, watching her as she took care of his wounds with that determination she showed every time she took things seriously. He wondered what she really thought about him and how he fit in her plans, which were often considered by him, but only as a mean to take possession of her soul; Susanna’s agenda was only one more thing to take into account in the whole scheme and he never stopped to consider that perhaps she looked at things differently; that maybe she considered him differently than his other contractors, who saw him only as a demon under their disposal and didn’t hesitate on take advantage of it. She took that matter as an advantage… one of many, but didn’t push him to his limits.

 In that moment, he thought that she really saw him as the threatening and vicious demon he really was and respected him.

In that case, maybe he could consider her differently, worthy of his reckoning and seeing her as an equal in the strategy game; she definitely did and acted as such.

“This could hurt a little.... or a lot, William complained because of the alcohol, so…” she took a cotton with alcohol and as soon as it touched Sebastian’s skin, his face showed a gesture of pain “hurts, right?” she slightly smiled “I bet it’s new for you to feel like a human and let me guess… a cut from that spear can take way some of immortality, doesn’t it?... some kind of special wound”

He looked at her again, with distrust in his eyes. He was under big pain, different from what he was used in his human form, but on the other hand, she wasn’t taking any pleasure on hurting him, nor trying to make it more painful. At certain point, he felt vulnerable and such feeling revolted him.

She as sure Sebastian was staring at her, with his shiny demon eyes, piercing, defensive, so she tried as hard as she could to avoid his gaze and focus in her task.

The atmosphere between them was tense and none of them said a word for a while, until his wounds were completely clean and Susanna threw the cottons to the garbage. Then she took a couple swaps from the medical kit.

“We better put some bandage in these wounds. Sit down straight, please” she took the swaps and a bandage “does it hurt a lot?” Sebastian looked at her and finally their eyes met, although only for an instant and before she could start patching him, he softly took his hand. That was his first answer after the uncomfortable silence moments before.

“Thank you…” was the only thing he said and then he left her finish, but the look on his face and expression in his eyes would be something Susanna would never forget… much less the true meaning behind it.

She was about to finish with the last bandage when Fer opened the door, carrying a small suitcase, like a doctor’s.

“How are you? Sebastian looked pretty bad, I thought he was bleeding out too much… but apparently it wasn’t a hemorrhage” he approached them.

“Just some cuts, nothing to worry about” the demon’s attitude change was radical. He was on his butler roll again.

“I suppose so, although I would have liked to take a look to those wounds to make sure everything as alright”  he smiled and looked at his suitcase “sorry for taking so long. Your father called a couple minutes ago, Miss. I told him you would call him back” of course he meant her adoptive father “I didn’t mention anything about today”

“Thanks… do you know how to take care of wounds?” she leaned back in one of the couches.

“I had to learn while I was in the MI6. I faced many dangers and I learned how to take care of myself and my partners, so… what happened to your leg?!” he asked as soon as he saw Susanna’s bloody trousers and William’s necktie tied to her leg.

“It’s a bullet wound” Sebastian answered “it wouldn’t be prudent if we called the police… could you do something about it? I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it” the butler said from the other couch, with an expression of tiredness that wasn’t usual in him.

“Of course… so, it’s a bullet then?” Fer smiled and approached the girl “lucky that I still have all the necessary stuff. Lay down, please. I will have to cut the trouser”

“I it painful?” the butler asked.

“It hurts, but not too much. I had a morphine shot in the car, so…” she shyly smiled and Sebastian became serious again. Until that moment, he wasn’t conscious about it. Even with the morphine, it wasn’t possible she was that calm. Perhaps it was because of the adrenaline still running through her veins, or a secondary effect to the exposition to the demons and Schneider’s powers.

“It looks like the morphine’s effect is still on, but I’m going to put some anesthesia just in case”  and then Fer started the process of cleaning the wound and put some stiches. The bullet wasn’t inside her leg, it was just a superficial injury, but it could be painful because of the position here it was located. The process lasted around an hour, and Fer knew exactly what he was doing; he had a lot of experience, but in the last couple minutes the anesthesia effect was gone, as well as the adrenaline inside Susanna’s veins so she managed to drown her painful screams by biting a towel Abby had brought minutes before.

That night had been a victory for Susanna, but it was as exhausting as painful in every way. More doubts came up and she was now able to see the complete reach of her vengeance, as well as the consequences. A bullet injury and her butler’s wounds would remind her that no one was safe. Even the shinigamis were badly injured. She was getting into something really dangerous.

 

Days later, the Schneider episode was gone; the guy was dead and Susanna had in her hands all the necessary to keep on with her plans. There were just three more men that would have to disappear, and it was just a matter of time before she could find them, but since she came back from the warehouse, she hadn’t done anything to move on. She had passed the last two days locked in her room and even though it didn’t seem strange at first because of her injury, Sebastian started to suspect there was something else that kept her isolated.

“Milady?” a male voice came from the other side of the door “Are you feeling well? May I come in?” in the past few days, his approaches towards her were very few. Sebastian’s wound had just healed and Abby took care of the house while he was injured, hence she was pretty much the only person who had seen Susanna.

“Come on in” Susanna’s voice was weak. She was lying in the bed, snuggling and facing one of the windows. She had been crying, but her tears were already dried. The only remaining was the tiring sadness in her back, knowing what kind of destiny awaited her and being conscious about the life she had lost; nostalgia, longing and vulnerability. Not to mention the blood in her hands. Up until that moment, she had killed to men in cold blood and the collateral damages increased the number; God only knew how many people were inside that container box that exploded in the warehouse.

“You’ve been here all day and only went down to have breakfast and call your adoptive father. Are you alright?” the butler kindly asked after seeing the empty bottles of tequila and rum in the floor.

“No. I’m sick of everything. But it’s my fault that I’m like this. I took full responsibility to finish them, sold my soul and left everything behind. Nothing will ever be the same and I feel dirty…” her voice as bitter “and before all this happened, I could speak with my friends or my family. Now I have to lie to my dad every time I speak with him. Make him think that I’m happy and memories don’t yell at me inside my head every minute” her voice was cut and after a pause she kept saying “I can’t silence them. I need…”

And then she felt something in the other side of the bed and unexpectedly Sebastian laid behind her body, embracing her. His warmth filling her, as well as his attractive scent surrounding her. As this a gesture of endearment? Where did it come from?

“…A hug…” the demon said in soft voice, as if he was completing the phrase she started.

“Thanks” she barely said and tears were about to come out. After a couple minutes she closed her eyes, like expecting everything to go away and she didn’t know is she was in a shallow sleep or dreaming, but the butler’s embrace comforted her; exactly what and how she needed.

Several minutes passed and she was more conscious of her surroundings, not because she wanted to, but because Sebastian’s hand moved from her arm to her torso and then to her waist, drawing small circles in her hips and sending sensual shivers through her body. He kept doing that for a couple instants and then stopped, embracing her again, with his arm around her. When she felt that, she took his hand and gently clenching it. The girl thought that at least for a while, forgetting that he was a demon could bring her some peace, and give in to her inner cravings at least for a while.

Little by little the lightning in the room became smoother. The sun was about to set and everything seemed blue. Susanna didn’t know how much time had passed before she could say anything. Not that she cared about it.

 “How’s your wound?” her voice sounded tired.

“Today it’s completely healed” he answered with a casual tone, but immediately remembered the thoughts he had before and knew he was stepping in unknown territory, not yet knowing if it was good or bad for his interests, but his demon nature made him loose himself to the moment “I’m sorry for not being a good butler during the last couple days”

Sebastian’s soft voice roared in the girl’s ears, she could almost feel him whispering behind her, causing her skin to feel goosebumps as his cologne made her heart beat faster. Her subconscious made her sigh, but when she noticed it, her body tensed and the demon could feel it.

“That spear… made you feel like a mortal, right?” she decided to make conversation to not feel like the situation as getting out of her hands. There was silence after the question, which was enough answer “and despite it, I don’t think you’re capable of knowing how we humans really feel”

“I’m a demon, I’ll never could” none of them said anything else for a couple instants, and that quietude felt like a cold air breeze that made her more alert  and a chill travelled down her spine, caused by Sebastian’s words in her ears, like a whisper, making her more conscious of the position they were “but as your butler…” he didn’t finish the sentence because he was interrupted.

 “Shh… don’t speak” she took off his white glove and held his hand, this time feeling his skin under hers, making the moment more intimate.

And so, they remained like that for a while longer, until she felt asleep and some hours later he left her side, very careful to not wake her up or bother her in any way. He couldn’t do anything else for the moment; because of her state and because of his on plans, which were still under development.

When Susanna woke up, the demon was already gone. The only thing she could find in her room was darkness and the shadows from the furniture cause by the moonlight. She stood up with laziness ad entered the bathroom to wash her face and then started to check the papers in her night stand, the same documents she got from Schneider.

She read them carefully, but even with the new information and the possibility of planning a strategy that would get her closer to her goal, her head couldn’t stop thinking about how attached she was getting to Sebastian; being close to anyone could hurt her very bad, but not only that. Her defensive reflexes appeared as well and they weren’t limited to the emotional part. Despite of knowing that, her days were counted, she was completely conscious that she shouldn’t strengthen ties with her butler, for he was, after all, a demon; a vile and manipulative creature, willing to do anything to reach his goals, which so far Susanna knew only one: getting her soul. It wasn’t a small thing, but she was sure that it wasn’t the only thing he was after. A hunch told her that he wouldn’t stop there and she was way too frightened to realize that she as starting to fall in a complex web. More elaborated that any of her plans.

 

The next day seemed to be pretty normal in the shinigami realm, but stress and tension could be felt in the atmosphere. Many workers ran through and along the halls with more hurry than usual. Those in charge of the soul collection were overload with work because some of them had been assigned by the higher ups to administrative tasks, paperwork and audits. Even the secretaries, who usually had the less stressing job seemed worried and grumpy.

 “Sempai, have you finished with those cinematic records?” a blond young man appeared in the entrance of the cubicle”

“This is the last one, but I need a break. This working rhythm won’t do my any good. Look! I have dark circles under my eyes and my beauty will be ruined!” Grell complained as he took a small mirror out of his desk “what would Sebas-chan say if he saw me like this?”

“I have no idea…” he replied as he saw his partner with incredulity “by the way, William is looking for us. I don’t know why, thou. After that horrible audit with the higher ups, I’m not in the mood for another interrogatory… and I’ve worked overtime the whole week, so I’m not happy at all” Ronald sighed and sat in a chair behind Grell’s seat.

“I know. Will’s been working more than usual, which is a lot already” the redhead said with a serious attitude but that changed soon as he blushed “the poor thing hasn’t even gone back home to sleep in the last two days. Perhaps a shoulder massage could help…”

“I don’t know. I don’t think he’s the type for those… ah! Sir… eh… I came here looking for Sutcliff sempai and… we were just about to go to your office” said the young shinigami, very worried after seeing William with a sour look on his face in the cubicle entrance. He looked as serious as always but the dark circles under his eyes and his pale skin showed how tired he was.

“Mr. Knox, I believe I told you it was urgent to see the both of you in my office” he sounded annoyed “honestly… we are already understaffed and these blithering numpties are my only option…” he said to himself ”come with me”  he headed to his office and the other two shinigamis followed him, not making any comment on their way there, only looking at the craziness the dispatch was in that moment.

Once they were inside William’s office, they noticed the peculiar smell of coffee that filled the air. It was true what Grell had said: the Supervisor hadn’t slept in almost two days and his usually very tidy work place as now filled with documents, cinematic records, unfinished paperwork and even some consult books.

“Have a seat” the boss sat in his chair and adjusted his glasses “as you already know, the imbalance with the soul numbers has been increasing little by little on the past years. Up until now, the information we had, was that Kraig Schneider was the responsible for this. But that is not the case. Not at all”

 “He isn’t?”  Ronald interrupted. He was surprised after hearing that information “how…?”

“If you would let me finish, Mr. Knox…”he said with displeasure and impatience “Kraig Schneider did have something to do with those lost souls, but not just him. A couple weeks ago, the higher ups put mi in charge of the investigation regarding those souls. At first we thought it was the result of demons feeding, but after an extenuated research, we could belie it”

 “You mean that…?” Grell had an alarmed but serious attitude, almost threatening after hearing the news “it’s not possible for a soul to disappear just like that, much less hundreds of them, unless…”

“That is correct” William made a small pause and took off his glasses on an evident gesture of tiredness as he massaged his nose bridge “apparently, what was a theoretically possible, has started to take place. They are no demons the ones who are making the souls disappear; someone else is sending them the souls, and the reasons are still unknown for us”

 “A human sending souls to the demons?” Ronald was very surprised his boss said that.

“We have information about some other subjects involved in this matter” he put some photographs on his desk “Kraig Schneider, whose soud was collected a few days ago. Ricardo Soler, Aidan Crawford, Demian Janssens-Guillot and Ivan Reznik”

 “Ivan Reznik! I collected his soul a month ago” the blond recognized the file.

“That’s correct, that man who was murdered by Susanna Serafer, who conveniently is descendant of Marco Serafer, one of the characters implied in that… soul _smuggling_ at the beginning of 1900’s”

“But… is she part of all this?” Ronald seemed confused.

“She is, but I couldn’t say if her action would benefit or affect us. She killed Reznik, after all, and she is going after the others” there was a small pause and then the Supervisor continued explaining with a solemn voice “as the one in charge of this investigation, I will appoint you two as part of it. I need shinigamis that are related to this matter and know the people implied in them, so I chose you. It is of high importance that we closely watch Susanna and that… tosser she has as butler”

 “Sebas-chan!” the redhead yelled very excited.

“Grell Sutcliff… if for any reason I find out that you are not doing your job, or you are making unnecessary approaches, you will be punished”

“Understood!”

“And Mr. Know, try not to induce Miss Serafer to that intoxicated state from last time. We need her to cooperate willingly”

“I think you could easily take care of that…” the young reaper said casually implying a couple of things.

“What did you say?” William was angry.

“Nothing, nothing… it’s just that… it looks like you two get along very well and…” he immediately regretted saying that “sure! I’ll be as discreet as I can”

“Very well. Let’s start with the plans” he said after glaring at him and then started explaining the notes on his book, with precise details of what they would have to do, people they would have to watch and connections between them.

Meanwhile in the Serafer residence, Susanna walked towards the kitchen, using a cane so her leg wouldn’t hurt so much because of the bullet wound. She knew her butler would be somewhere around the house, but she met Fer in the way.

 “Are you feeling better, Miss?”

“Hi, Fer. Yeah, much better. Good thing you have experience with these kind of injuries”

“I agree. You’ll be as good as new in one or two weeks” the blond smiled but them he became thoughtful “although Sebastian seems to be doing just fine… way too fine considering the wound he got”

“Oh… yeah…” she tried to think of an excuse for his _miraculous_ recovery, but before she could say anything, the butler appeared right behind her.

“Well, you see, Fer what kind of butler would I be is I showed pain or complained? That doesn’t fit the aesthetics”

“Perhaps you’re right, but don’t push yourself too hard. It’s not like you’re immortal” Fer smiled again. He wasn’t aware of Sebastian’s true identity.

 “Of course, I’m only one hell of a butler” he answered with a peculiar tone and Fer went out to the garden with a smile in his face.

“Hell yeah…” she crossed her arms and leaned in one of the couches, resting her leg.

“Milady?” the demon sided his head, waiting for the girl’s next words.

“We need to talk… in private” a serious look in her eyes as she made sure there was no one else around.

“After you…” Sebastian walked towards the stairs and made a gesture with his hand.

Susanna went up the stairs and then headed towards the studio. She walked slowly to avoid pain in her leg, wishing she could go faster and run away from the butler’s persistent look, following her perhaps too close.

Once they were in the studios she sat in the desk chair, resting at last and then took a couple painkillers from the desk drawer and was about to swallow them with the help of a glass of whiskey.

“If I may say it, pills and alcohol don’t go well together, Miss” the butler tried to persuade her, but it was too late. A disapproval look appears in his face.

“I know, but as long as we have the contract, I can’t die, right?” her voice was rather monotone; it wasn’t a good day for her and the glass with alcohol in her hand was prove of it.

“That is correct, but it’s not guarantee of a life without pain or complications, as I’m sure you’ve already noticed” he got closer to her chair and pointed at her wounded leg, leaning a little towards her.

“And what if I make it an order?” her attitude was defying in every way, and Sebastian answered by putting both arms in the back of the chair, cornering her.

“Your wishes are my command…” the demon’s voice was captivating and soft as it slid through Susana’s ears, her eyes fixed on his, defiant “…but apparently those self-destructive behaviors  are part of something else entirely” he moved away from her and looked through the window while playing with a paperweight he took from the desk

“Oh, really?” there was some irony in her voice.

“There is a pattern and you know it.  Every time you kill one of those men the same thing happens. For a couple days you give in to depression and then try to fight it with _distractors_. Since that first time when you violently reacted after hearing those words in Latin, I knew there was something odd. Fer confirmed it later, so I made some research. It is my duty as your butler to put your wellbeing as my priority.

“Are you going to profile me now?” she laughed incredulous.

“Of course not. I’ve already done that” he looked at her over his shoulder and continued speaking, not letting her object “but don’t worry. As I told you a while ago, in any way you are exquisite and attractive to me. That little analysis just encouraged my…” he looked at her with his demon, red and threatening eyes “my desires…” he played again with the paperweight, taking his eyes off her after fulfilling his purpose: prove that he was the one in control.

“Then, what were you researching?” her tone was cold.

“I suppose you’ve heard about posttraumatic stress disorder” she nodded “that’s exactly what you have. Everything started when you were kidnapped and those words in Latin trigger that violent frenzy. As a matter of fact, it is not so hard to trigger it. Any smell, image, sound or words could…”

“Cause it…” 

“That’s right. But don’t worry, that is quite a common thing among humans, especially after a traumatic experience, and I have to admit that you’ve been coping just fine. It could be worse, considering the circumstances” he made a small pause and the contract seal felt warmer in Susanna’s neck “actually, I’m surprised you limit yourself to drinking. Having the possibilities and means you do, you could fall into other kind of activities” the butler widely smiled, not showing his sharp teeth and putting his kindest face; so kind it seemed that he as mocking.

“Are you justifying me, or trying to make me fall into temptation?”

“Neither of them, for now. I just want you to be completely conscious of what you’re doing, and if I ever have to take you to the hospital for a stomach pumping because you had too many pills and alcohol, I will do it without remorse, and all the consequences it would bring”

“Deal… but this is an order: you shall never use those Latin words against me…” her face became dark, for she now knew her emotional rollercoaster was somehow normal after a traumatic experience, but she felt nostalgic and wanted to look for comfort but Sebastian took her out of her thoughts.

“Understood” he bowed “and changing the subject… I trust you read those documents we got from the warehouse”

“I did. Maps, schedules and locations. Many things are in code and the only on I understand is the nitroglycerine.  But they mention Ricardo Soler and Aidan Crawford, so we are in the right track”

 “If I recall correctly, those shipments come from different countries, don’t they?”

“Yes… China, Russia, Morocco, Congo, Nigeria… and there are some other shipments sent to Afghanistan, Algeria, and Sudan…. Do you think it’s drug trafficking?”

 “It’s possible, but that wouldn’t bet related to the fallen angel”

“Or the Gungnir spear” they both were thoughtful “what the hell were those demons doing with Odin’s spear?.... Odin, the Nord god! This is way too confusing. I mean, what’s next? Flying dragons, zombies… Thor?... well, if it’s Thor from the movie, I wouldn’t oppose actually, although I prefer Loki…” the butler raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms as she continued thinking out loud “but you know? It would be nice to ride a Pegasus. I don’t like heights, but it’s still a good opportunity. On the other hand, meeting Medusa or a Minotaur wouldn’t be so…”

“Mythology and legends have something of true in them… but I’m sure the flying pony, the sculptress harpy or those lame Hollywood attempts to show a god, couldn’t be farther from the truth, it such truth ever existed” he sounded annoyed.

“If I’ve learned something, is that anything is possible…  Faust rings a bell?” she drank from her whiskey glass.

“I’m afraid that is quite different…” he tried to explain “we…”

“Or shinigamis?... whatever it is, that spear could have killed you and, despite how powerful it might be, it’s only a weapon” Sebastian remained silent and a grim look appeared on his face “I don’t even want to think about how would it be to fight the fallen angel. We have to finish with those remaining idiots and avoid… they bring him back or make the final linkage”

“That is the part of the deal that I have to take care of, isn’t it?” the demon said solemnly, putting his right hand on his chest “and so I will” she smiled, but there wasn’t happiness behind the gesture, only a slight feeling of bitterness and anger

“Is it true that the spear is in hands of our green eyed little friends?”

“That is correct, but I wouldn’t call them our friends” he made a pause “after we…” he remembered the grim images of the fight against the Type D demons and the expression in Ronald’s face after seeing his true demon form “finished with them, they confiscated it”

“Good. Then we won’t have to worry about it. It’s in good hands and now that I think about it, perhaps they could give us some information and…”

“I highly doubt they would cooperate with us. We better look by ourselves. Besides, I’m very capable of finding the whereabouts of Mr. Soler and Crawford.”

“Sebastian, we have locations from all over the world. It wouldn’t be so practical to search in each one of them”

“My thoughts exactly, but there are some addresses here in London. Offices mostly. I could take a look at them and question the people named in the documents…”

“I want a picture of Ricardo Soler, Aidan Crawford and that Janssens-Guillot guy, whose complete name is still unknown. They hide it so well… the only clue I could find in the papers were the initials _DJG_ ”

“Perhaps Fer could help us with that. He still has access to MI6 files”

“Good. And you take care of those offices. See if there is anyone suspicious or out of place, but don’t rush into anything. We don’t know what exactly do they want and everything is getting more dangerous. We better be prepared” Susanna remained thoughtful, considering all the recent events and worrying for what was behind all that, but she got suddenly distracted after noticing Sebastian was still there, standing next to her desk”

“Weren’t you going to check those locations?” she asked and the butler showed again that mocking grin, without moving.

“I’m afraid you forgot how to ask for anything…”

“Sebastian… it’s a fucking order! I don’t know what the hell are you playing at, but I’m getting tired. I thought you had a little common sense.

“I prefer listening to you saying those words, Miss. That makes things more… clear” he bowed and left the studio, leaving the girl with an uneasy feeling.

Susanna remained in the studio, reading the papers again. Schedules and a list of things that didn’t make much sense. Nitroglycerine was one of those things those men smuggled, but she was sure there was something else. Drug trafficking could be useful to get continuous and high incomes, but they couldn’t work only in that area. Besides, there was the matter of those people in the containers.

The images of that night returned to her head. They were raw and real, even the image of those demons fighting against the shinigamis and her butler were as vivid as the piercing pain in her leg he the bullet reached.

She thought for a moment and then took a world map from one of the desk drawers and put it in the floor, which gave her a general view of the international geography. Then she took the documents and some markers to color the locations.

Those points were all around the world and didn’t seem to have pattern. Symbolism was an important part of all that, but even after joining the points and places it didn’t seem to form a figure or something specific. She couldn’t reach any conclusions, even after remembering all her studies in mythology and underground activities, so she decided to change the point of view and focused in the Gungnir spear.

She went down to the basement, where many books from her ancestors were stored. It was a dark and cold, one of those places where a horrible monster or an assassin would kill her if she was in a horror movie, but she wasn’t scare of those things anymore. She had seen many strange stuff and, despite of seeing those black shadows following her, they didn’t mean any harm for her; if her life were at risk, Sebastian would appear to save her. She was completely sure about it.

The basement was filled with old boxes and bookcases, where some books in ancient Nordic could be found. She couldn’t understand it, so she looked for something in English or her native language perhaps, although that would be too much asking… eventually she found one of her grandfather’s journal. It was written in English, so she immediately looked for the word “Gungnir”. After a while, she found something interesting.  It was a page where some explanation about the spear was written.

“The Gungnir spear, that weapon of Odin who was given by Loki after a terrible mischief. According to legends, anyone who held it would have Odin’s blessing in their battles.”

Most of the text couldn’t be read. Humidity had ruined part of it, but Susanna kept looking for something useful and then something caught her attention. It was a strange symbol which appeared many times in the book. It was some kind of X, but with mall squares in the central vertex. She took a pencil and drew it in a paper. Then she continued reading the books.

There were many writings and books about witchcraft, spells, symbolism and even runes. She took a look at a rune chart, where she found the same X she saw before. It was the rune “Gar” and just below it, an inscription.

_“Gar, with a mute sound. IS the white rune, associated with Odin and it’s marked in the Gungnir’s spear. It the rune of mystery. Anything associated with it, it’s not for the human knowledge, or anyone’s. Sometimes it refers to destiny and to not doubt about decisions made.”_

Immediately, Susanna felt a chill down her spine, as well as goosebumps. That couldn’t mean anything good. The spear was a dangerous instrument which had to be feared. Hence the shinigamis’ reaction, as well as Sebastian’s when they saw it. The feeling of impotence invaded her and for the first time, she thought he didn’t have any choice; that she was part of a bigger scheme. She was conscious of having a destiny, but she ran from it, and despite her soul being damned from the beginning, she would decide how to leave this world. Sebastian would be the one getting her soul and giving her the final doom, but… what if it wasn’t?... what if everything had been planned from the beginning? Would she be destined to end with all those men’s pretensions; to interrupt the final linkage, or would she be promoting it?

What was the final linkage exactly? What was is supposed to link?... with a dead God, murdered by men, a destiny that was unavoidable  and a fallen angel that seemed to be the evil incarnated, even worse than Sebastian, the future didn’t seem so bright.

Maybe the answers were somewhere else. Those writings had only empty information, but still, they were a guide and there was a place named Djürgarden that appeared in different places of the book and documents. That was the Serafer family original hometown. Researching more about that place could be a good idea.

But even after discovering that information many doubts came up. How did they find Odin’s spear, is according to mythology it had been destroyed? Evidently it wasn’t, and at certain point it feel in the hands of those demons, which must have been somehow related to Kraig Schneider. They weren’t linked by a contract, because his soul was reaped by William. She saw it with her own eyes. It might be related to that purple and stinky fluid he threw to the floor.

She consulted another book with writings in antique Aramean and some other languages she didn’t know, and something deep inside told her she shouldn’t read them; there were invocations and spells everywhere and she already had enough with one demon to  deal with another or something worse, especially if it was one of those type D.

A couple hours later she decided to leave it like that and have some dinner, relax a little. It was a lot of information to assimilate and everything left her with a very unpleasant feeling, as if something bad would happen, making her hands sweaty. It was better to wait until Sebastian returned so she could get more details.

 

 

 

 


End file.
